Fantasy Racers - The start of out Title Defence!

Over at Sidepodcast, we partook in an online Fantasy F1 game last season called Fantasy Racers. If you're familiar with the concept, you pick a few driver with a set budget and you can't spend more than what's been allocated. I joined the league by the time the game was at the Spanish GP and didn't do too badly. By the end of the season, I was in a private battle with SPC's Christine to see if I, who started late, could beat her, who had been in it from the beginning. Alas, I missed out on overtaking her in the standings by less than 100 points.

Upholding our Honour
Today, FR has opened its doors so to speak once again and we at Sidepodcast have already created our private league. For us there is a lot at stake this season. Why? Well, it's the small matter of us being the reigning private league champions. What makes it more prestigious is that we were able to beat the league set up by the forums at the one and only Autosport magazine. Yes, you've read that right - we, a community centered around a humble F1 podcast, managed to pip the UK's number 1 weekly motorsport magazine! Christine and Mr C, her husband and partner in crime, received a nice trophy for our success and Jordan Allen got the prize for winning our private league.

What's That Name Again?
Now of course me being a member of the SPC community, I am participating although this time at the beginning of the game instead of joining mid-season and playing catch up. One thing which any fantasy F1 game lets you do is give your team a name. Last season, I went with Neg's Urban Sports F1 in honour of the hilarious segment on the comedy show Balls of Steel. This time, I decided to go with something that was rather unique and quite frankly genius. We're used to silly team names, but one in particular was Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers, which I know is a reference from an episode of The Simpsons. So I thought to myself - what could I call mine this time around to try and top it? To gain inspiration, I looked for things synonymous with Sidepodcast. After some careful decisions and a bit of experimentation, I came up with the FR name to end all names. Ladies and gentlemen, the team I have entered this season is called noneother than....

Dumbo-Flugel'd Kung Fu Marmots!

I can quite imagine you're staring at that thinking "What in the name of all that's holy is that supposed to mean?!" Well, I'll explain:

Dumbo-Flugel - The German name for the weird nose attachments on the front of the Honda F1 car last season. It translates in English as Dumbo Ears.

Kung Fu - After watching the new Sidepodcast Diaries video on YouTube today (the series making a welcome comeback), Kung Fu Panda was mentioned and from there it just stuck.

Marmots - Christine at SPC thinks they're cute after she saw them on track during the Canadian GP these past two seasons.

Come and Have a Go if You Think You're Hard Enough!
So, maybe you want to have a go at this and take part, huh? No problem. Simply head over to the Fantasy Racers website (www.fantasyracers.com), join up for free and enter Private League 6 with the password "franck". I would recommend doing it now though and not later on when the 2009 F1 season has already started as you might just get left behind. Anyway, I hope I see some of you from here over there. It is quite fun and competitive once it gets into full swing. Who knows, you could even win it!