Feb 6, 2011

F1 apocalypse (or 'fantasy league', depending on which term you prefer)


So far this February, this blog has been like London at the start of 28 Days Later. Abandoned buildings. Unread newspapers. Car alarms punturing the silence of desertion.

But screw all that: I've been busy reviving an old project which long-time readers of this blog will recognise.

The F1 Losers League is my attempt at a fantasy formula one competition, with the crucial difference that you need to create the worst possible team. So you get points if your cars are slow, unreliable or crashy.

I wanted to come up with some F1 / electronica puns so I could shoe horn (car horn?) the league into this blog without making it look like an obvious (spark)plug. But all I've come up with so far is Apex Twin, James Brake and Bargeboards of Canada.

The F1 Losers League works like this: you make up a team of four drivers and two constructors. Based on bad performance on and off the track, they earn you points in races and sometimes inbetween races. Everyone pays a fiver and up to seven teams will win cashmoney.

I've run this league on-and-off since 2004, so I know those who get the most out of it tend to have at least a passing interest in formula one. It also helps if you have an inner geek because there are ways of manipulating your team throughout the season.

Have a look at the league on the F1 Losers website. You need to enter before the zombies come and tear out your heart, or until the second week of March (whichever comes sooner).

FLYING LOTUS! The most obvious pun ever! Why didn't I think of that? I always think of good things way too late.

Edit: see the comments section below for two more doozies: Saubers of Paradise and Susumu Toyota. Feel free to add your own!

5 comments:

Sarah said...

What about Chicane? It's not really a pun as such but it is an F1 term (I think) and a band (I think) so it would work (I think). I'm having a massive moment of self-doubt about the existence of both the band and the racing term. But I'll stick with it.

al said...

I thought maybe... Saubers of Paradise. What do you reckon?

Er...Renault Hell?

And, uhm...Mercedes Benz Frost?

Then, at a stretch, you could have James Ferrari - y'know The Skaters guy with all the glo-wave lo-fi cassette stuff, though, you might contend, not strictly 'electronica,' and you'd have a point there, chief.

Fat Roland said...

I don't know whether to be proud or appalled.

Sarah, I had thought about Chicane. But then I got excited about Flying Lotus.

Alan, I think Saubers Of Paradise is absolute genius. There's a pun in there about Andrew Weatherall and wet-weather tyes. Or possibly not.

al said...

I think it's possible to be both proud and appalled simultaneously.

Yeah, bit of a morphological tweak thang going on with Weatherall<->all-weather tyres. Fruitless footling about with a Flying Lotus<->flying lap<->laptop association here. In the end, I thought, sod this for a game of soldiers, I'm going for:

Susumu Toyota

Fat Roland said...

I've added Susumu and Saubers to the end of the blog post. Too good not to include.