Information
Information Index:
About ESCORS | Racing Times & Days | The ESCORS Staff | ESCORS Sponsors | Donations |
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About ESCORS
 What ESCORS means to its members -- An interesting introduction of the world of ESCORS, seen from one of the league's members, Raymond Sagius. If you are looking to find out what it means to be a member of this league, this is the right place for you. More
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Racing Times & Days |
| Series |
Day |
CET |
GMT |
ET |
Physics/Mod |
| National Touring Series |
| BallRacing Cup Series |
Saturday |
15:00 |
14:00 |
9 a.m. |
CUP/superspeedway.net COT |
| Alienware Series |
Saturday |
11:00 |
10:00 |
5 a.m. |
GNS |
| Truck Series |
Sunday |
11:00 |
10:00 |
5 a.m. |
CTS |
| CET = Central European Time, GMT = Greenwich Mean Time, ET = Eastern Time |
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The ESCORS Staff |
| League Management & Organization |
| General Management |
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BallRacing Cup Series Director |
Steve Claeys
Helmut Eimann
Hendrik Gerhardt
Christoph Müller
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Helmut Eimann |
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| Alienware Series Director |
| Hendrik Gerhardt |
| Car Files |
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Christoph Müller
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Truck Series Director |
| Graphics |
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Sandeep Banerjee |
| Christoph Müller |
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| Members |
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Other |
Sandeep Banerjee
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| Public Relations & Sponsoring |
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Steve Claeys
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| Rules |
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Helmut Eimann
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| Database |
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| Webmaster |
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Christoph Müller
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ESCORS Sponsors |
| Supporting ESCORS, its Series and events. |
ALIENWARE
 Company Profile: Alienware® Ltd., manufactures high-end computer gaming machines, DV systems and high performance workstations. Alienware® has earned numerous awards for excellence in the computer industry and is also a respected, globally recognized brand name. The Alienware® company motto is “build it as if it were your own”. Alienware® has built a great reputation in the computer industry and work hard each day to maintain it.
The Alienware® Mission: To be the best PC manufacturer in the world!
Alienware® strives to be the leader in every area of the industry. Alienware® will fight to have the highest customer satisfaction, and unwavering customer loyalty, and most important, unrivaled products. Alienware® will achieve these goals by operating in a positive, professional work environment that rewards dedication and commitment to the company, the customer and communities. This will be the scope of the Alienware® Spirit of Service.
Contact:
Alienware® Ltd.
Unit 1 Blyry Court
Blyry Industrial Estate
Athlone, Co. Westmeath, Ireland
Website
ESCORS Sponsorship Deal: Alienware® Ltd. is the title sponsor of ESCORS' second highest national touring series, the ESCORS Alienware Series.
ESCORS Prize: TBA
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BALLRACING DEVELOPMENTS
 Company Profile: BallRacing Developments® Ltd (BRD) is a family business started in 1994. It was formed to develop and market a high quality steering wheel and pedal control system for the PC.
BallRacing Developments® was the first to take these types of controls and fit them into actual racecars to create authentic racing simulators. From these beginnings BallRacing Developments® has developed contacts and partnerships with many of the leading motor sport companies and teams to provide them and their sponsors with extremely effective and popular simulators. These simulators have been primarily used for promotional and exhibition purposes but are increasingly being developed for training uses.
BallRacing not only converts actual racecars to simulators but also produces under licence a range of replica cars as simulators. BRD has a licence from Jaguar Racing to use their actual Formula 1 racecar moulds to create the most realistic F1 simulators available. Additionally BRD produces a 55% scale model Ford Focus WRC simulator and a truly authentic replica 1967 Lotus 49 with Cosworth DFV engine.
BallRacing Developments® has strong links with the motorsport community, their partnerships with the likes of Hewlett Packard and EDS enables them to create and design using the same level of technology as many of the leading F1 teams. This also enables them to take data directly from teams/manufacturers to speed up the design process and employ cutting edge rapid prototyping techniques. Nik Ball is responsible for BRD's design and development program and is a graduate in aeronautical engineering and has spent 5 years working in the automotive industry as an engine designer for one of the UK's leading automotive design consultancies before joining BallRacing.
Contact:
BallRacing Developments® Ltd.
Arnolds Farm
Deanoak Lane, Leigh
Surrey, RH2 8PZ, UK
Website
ESCORS Sponsorship Deal: BallRacing Developments® is the title sponsor of ESCORS' highest national touring series, the ESCORS BallRacing Cup Series.
ESCORS Prize: TBA
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MINDWARE
 Company Profile: n/a
Contact:
n/a
Website
ESCORS Sponsorship Deal: Mindware sponsors the mindware.be Pole Awards in all ESCORS series and is the title sponsor
of several races, including the annual mindware.be Shootout at Daytona International Speedway.
ESCORS Prize: TBA
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N2003 REPLAY ANALYZER
 Company Profile: n/a
Contact:
n/a
Website
ESCORS Sponsorship Deal: n/a
ESCORS Prize: TBA
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Donations |
| Support ESCORS to make it better now and in the future! |
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Donations
As a non-profit organization run by sim-racing sim-racing enthusiasts for sim-racing enthusiasts, we need your support to continue our path.
On this page, you will find all information to contribute and donate money to the league in order to support it financially.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Steve Claeys (treasurer) at steve.claeys@pandora.be .
ESCORS would like to thank all people which support the league and site by donation. Without those donations, ESCORS would not be able to give it's members what they deserve.
Bank Transfer
This is the easiest and old-fashioned way to donate money.
Beginning from July 1st, 2003, the banks operating in the European Union (EU) countries have been obliged to complete money transfers between EU countries without additional transaction fees compared to domestic bank transactions (regulation (EC) No 2560/2001).
In other words, if you have a bank account in an EU country, you can donate to ESCORS from your own bank account without extra transaction costs. To do so, please follow these steps:
National Number: 063-4200883-42
IBAN: BE77 0634 2008 8342
BIC: GKCCBEBB
Bank name and address: Dexia Bank
Receiver name and address: Steve Claeys, Ijsbroekstraat 18, 9506 Geraardsbergen, Belgium
Note to receiver (if available): "ESCORS Donation + Your Name"
Paypal
Donating by PayPal is secure and fast. If you prefer to pay by credit card, PayPal is your preferred choice.
To donate, just click on the PayPal logo and follow the instructions.
Thank you! Your support is very much appreciated by the ESCORS Staff and all members!
Please note that all donations will be used strictly to support league-activities. The donations are nonrefundable and do not entitle to any special rights within in ESCORS.
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About ESCORS |
| What it means to be a virtual Stock Car Racing Driver in ESCORS |
Virtual - adj [attrib] almost or nearly the thing described, but not completely.
(by Raymond Sagius) -- That's what the Oxford English dictionary says, anyway. To me it means everything except the pain and danger of hard licks into the turn 3 wall. ESCORS is the extension of that virtual world. It is "almost or nearly the thing described, but not completely". What ESCORS is, is the virtual representation of NASCAR. A simulation of the real world, and in fact a real world of its own.
Driving in ESCORS is real in every aspect of racing, except for those things that are out of our hands. Sponsorships are real for some of the drivers. The joy they feel when winning a race is just as real for all of them. I remember when I won my first race. It was Kansas Speedway, and it was a race in the European Challenge Series (today's ERCO SuperCar Series). The race wasn't that good, but then, I didn't expect a 67 lap green stint. My car was fast, and it needed some yellows to keep the tires drivable. I took a gamble, and it paid off. I've never been so happy in my life! At that moment, when I crossed the finishline, I WAS Jeff Gordon. Adrenalin was rushing through my blood, my hands were sweaty, and my brain was doing overtime. I can't describe the feeling I had in words. It was great.
But that feeling, although I wish you all shared it, is not what this article is about. This article is about ESCORS, and how it works at recreating a reality of a racing career for those who can't afford to have one in a real car, and even those that do. ESCORS is Europe's premier NASCAR Racing 2003 Season league on the internet. It simulates seasons that are run by NASCAR and the Weekly Series simulates the local bullring racing in the United States.
The idea is that your career starts in one of the minor series, and then take off. It concentrates around their three major series, the BallRacing Cup, which simulates the NASCAR Nextel Cup, the Alienware Series, which simulates the NASCAR Busch Series, and the ABIT Truck Series, which tries to follow the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule.
Before you start your career, you will need to find a team owner who gives you a ride. This can be troublesome if the season has already begun, but no need to worry, there's always someone unable to make it to a race, and an owner might want to give a promising rookie a chance. Or you start your own team and buy a car with virtual ESCORS dollars.
Once you make it on the regular entry list for any series, that's when the real work starts. Whether it be the BallRacing Cup, Alienware Series, ABIT Truck Series, one of the regional touring series, the ERCO SuperCar Series or the Weekly Series. They all have great drivers in them, and it will be a tough job finishing high in the standings. The races are exciting, and the difference in divisions is like it is in real life racing. Of course in 'rookie' series there are the races with the most yellows, but that's part of the realism. 100% ARCA RE/MAX distance - as driven in the ERCO SuperCar Series - isn't easy, even for the real ARCA drivers, and a caution is easy to cause. The good thing is you'll improve, and that's what it is all about. You'll improve, and you'll be proud of that. And if you improve enough, you can promote to the Alienware Series, which runs 50% of NASCAR Busch Series race length.
Once you earned your stripes you could always try to make it to the BallRacing Cup, and try to do good in 60% NASCAR Nextel Cup races.
But, like NASCAR, you don't have to follow this path during your "career". If you show exceptional skill and speed you may very well be asked to do some non-regular starts in BallRacing Cup races before the season ends. It's all up to you.
You can also decide to race in a lower division, if you have problems with the race times of the one you're assigned to.
ESCORS is a league for sim-racers, and pleasing you is one of its main goals. But the 'path to the Cup' is the one that is most common for drivers to follow. Beware about the BallRacing Cup, though. The drivers that race in the BallRacing Cup Series are really some of the best there are on the internet. Just staying on the lead lap can be an accomplishment, especially in the longer races. In my first Cup race I felt like David taking his slingshot to kill Goliath. Sure enough, I didn't kill Goliath, but I was happy knowing that Goliath didn't kill me either.
It's not all racing either. A part of ESCORS that deserves attention is the community itself. The people behind it. The drivers, management, and everybody connected to it. They all come together on the forums, and they're becoming a source of information for just about anything connected to racing. Helping eachother out with setups, discussing strategies, and discussing the races with one another. They're a friendly bunch that is out to have a good time. It's almost as important to get involved on the forums as it is to practice your skills on the track. Making friends is an important part of online racing, and if anything, we all have at least one thing in common: We LOVE racing.
ESCORS succeeded in creating the most realistic online racing league available today. If you look at the website you'll think it was about a real life racing league like NASCAR. That's the whole point.
People are always complaining that the simulations out there are not feeling real, because you don't get the feeling you're in a racecar driving for a reason. "There's not enough immersion in that game," or "I get bored driving the same lap 200 times for no apparent reason," are phrases that have been heard ever since the first racing simulation was released.
Well, ESCORS provides that reason, and adds to the realism of the simulation. You can set goals that are realistic for you. You want to finish in the top-10, you want to win a race, you want to promote to the BallRacing Cup and race with the big names (and there are big names in the BallRacing Cup, the online equivalents of Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mark Martin, and the likes).
It does require a certain driver to be successful in ESCORS, though. You need to be willing to participate in a real environment, with real rules, and real drivers. This means that you will need to devote time to practice the tracks you'll be racing. You won't be worth much if you spin out in every turn, nor will you be treated as "god's gift to racing" if you wreck at every pass you attempt. Just like real life, the people you're racing will get mad at you when you mess up. Robby Gordon wasn't (and still isn't) considered to be everybody's favorite in NASCAR, but he's improving his reputation as a driver.
It isn't any different in ESCORS. You won't be loved if you wreck, but you can improve, and if you show improvement, you'll find yourself making more and more friends. Friends that will help you during a race when you find yourself in the back of the pack. And believe me, a friend will get out of line to draft with you when you find yourself left hanging out to dry at 180 mph at Talladega, and you will return the favor when the roles are reversed.
ESCORS isn't the solution for everybody's problems with racing. But it does provide the basic ingredients for having a great time, and feeling like a real driver. It provides a friendly community of people that are willing to help you become a better driver, if you want to. It provides the atmosphere of racing, and it allows you to work your way up the ranks to stardom. All ESCORS asks from you in return is to be a good sport, and a little time of your everyday life to make sure you and everybody in ESCORS enjoys being a part of it. This means practicing, and getting involved on the forums, even if it's only occasionally.
I promise you, if you're looking for realism, ESCORS is the place. ESCORS really is as real as virtual will ever get. |
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