Portfolio: The Murray Cup - [Comm-Links](https://api.star-citizen.wiki/comm-links) - Portfolio: The Murray Cup Portfolio: The Murray Cup ========================= Undefined Undefined Portfolio [Previous](https://api.star-citizen.wiki/comm-links/14186) [Next](https://api.star-citizen.wiki/comm-links/14189) Content ------- English The Murray Cup is the unquestioned jewel in star racing’s triple crown. Every year, top racing teams pour blood, sweat and money into attempting to take the top ranking in the challenging system-wide race. Race History The Murray Cup tradition dates back to the early settlement of the Ellis System circa 2467. The government’s move to terraform four planets at once in the newly discovered system lead to a necessarily massive influx of population and space equipment. With little to do beyond wait for their machines to begin altering planetary core temperatures, terraformers and their families began to pass the time by racing their idle work spacecraft. Soon, makeshift racing challenge tracks were constructed using leftover terraforming equipment, and company craft were modified for speed. It got to be that racing wasn’t something to do while not terraforming, but rather that the terraforming was something you did so you could race. The pastime’s popularity spread beyond the system, and soon non-terraformers began to arrive to try their hand on the challenging course. Meanwhile, Amon Murray smelled profit. Murray was a criminal and a gambler who amassed a small fortune by selling bored terraformers drugs and other contraband. He became fascinated with the makeshift races, not as a competitor but as an organizer and bookie; he began taking bets on the amateur system races. After six months, Murray found that he was making more money from booking bets than he was dealing contraband. Never one to take a small fortune when a large one might be close behind, Murray committed resources to legitimizing the races, offering a small credit purse for the winner of what became known as, at Murray’s insistence, the first Murray Cup. This first official race concluded with Ian Rikkord as the 2479 champion. An atmospheric specialist for Gaia Planet Services, Rikkord’s claim to fame became the sheer amount of customization he applied to his RSI Nova courier ship, beginning a five-century tradition of cup winners personally modifying stock spacecraft. The reaction to the newly organized racing was electric; new racers from all over the Empire and even beyond were lining up to take part, and with each successive year the Cup prize became larger. By 2488, Murray had “gone legit”; the erstwhile drug runner had repositioned himself as a public figure and the father of modern star racing. The Race The Murray Cup is divided into two race types: Classic (once colloquially called Hare) and Blitz (formerly Tortoise, or Div- T). Classic racing is exactly what would be expected: ships trying to out-navigate each other as quickly as possible. Blitz takes into effect ships’ weaponry, allowing pilots (with increasing restrictions over the years) to engage in limited combat during the race to disable, but not destroy, competitors. Though most pilots tend to specialize in one racing type or the other, to really become successful in the Murray Cup, it is important to master both skillsets. Racers will train for years to improve their ‘off style,’ with only a few exemplary pilots every becoming truly ‘ambidextrous.’ The Murray Cup’s inherent difficulty comes from the course itself, which now spans the entirety of the Ellis system and consists of multiple stages. Each leg is designed to take advantage of natural adverse stellar obstacles present in the system, such as asteroid belts and gravity wells, and, in the last few centuries, man-made obstacles like variable agility rings and targeting gate-locks. Some sections of the track notoriously require such a high level of precision piloting that they have earned themselves infamous nicknames such as the ‘Sorrow Sea’ or the ‘Boneyard.’ However, as much as the Murray Cup is about a proud racing tradition, the officials in the League continue to make annual alterations to the track in order to maintain the high degree of difficulty in the face of near constant improvements that manufacturers like RSI and Origin are engineering to make their racing craft ever faster and more maneuverable. Of course, a ship is nothing without a pilot, and with the Murray Cup broadcast live across the spectrum, Cup winners quickly become legends in their own right. There are few who can think of the sport without mentioning greats like Terra McConoway, who in 2495 became the first person to ever win two Murray Cups, or Issigon Ado, who ushered in an era of interspecies participation as the first Banu to ever win. Then there are those who make history not just by winning, but by how they do it. Take Dax “The Hax” Emmelmann, who in 2731 set a new speed record thanks to his Aurora’s heavily modified thrusters. Generations of tinkers since have continued to strive to push that record even farther. Then there is the inspirational tale of Fabis Capaldi, who won in 2798 despite suffering from Rauk’s syndrome, a true lesson that anything is possible. In more recent years, we have seen the rise of greats like the Bakshi racing family, who have almost 40 years of racing and 3 victories under their combined belts and many more to come. Underdog Hypatia Darring still has fans clamoring for her to come out of retirement after her thrilling come-frombehind win in 2934. Yet tragically, the pilot who is still at the forefront of most people’s minds is 2942’s winner, the late Zack Hugh. Rules Revision Fatalities are no stranger to star racing; hundreds of racers and spectators have been killed as a result of accidents in a half-millenia of Murray Cup racing. None, however, have shaken the galaxy and racing culture like the accident that capped the 2942 Murray Cup. After a hard fought race, pilot Zack Hugh began the traditional victory lap, only to be hit headfirst by an amateur pilot, a lap behind, who had lost control of his ship. With that sad ending, racing’s greatest prize was awarded to a widow and the Murray Cup Racing League moved behind closed doors to once more adjust the future of the event. In 2943, Commissioner Marco Verender announced that the race’s qualification process was being revisited in the wake of the 2942 tragedy. Starting with this year’s race, qualification is now determined by a point system that spans the entirety of the Cup racing season. Pilots who wish to qualify for the grand finalé must earn twenty “points” by placing in other authorized Cup races, with three points awarded for first place, two for second and one for third. The change, as well as updates to the rules for Blitz weaponry states, have been roundly criticized by race speculators who feel it cheapens the tradition in the name of safety and order. The overall impact to the race will be known soon: this year’s season is drawing to a close and a number of standout pilots who have already achieved the necessary twenty points are being followed closely by the media. Der Murray Cup ist das unbestrittene Juwel in der Dreifachkrone des Sternesports. Jedes Jahr gießen Spitzenteams Blut, Schweiß und Geld in den Versuch, in dem anspruchsvollen systemweiten Rennen die Spitzenposition einzunehmen. Rennverlauf Die Tradition des Murray Cup geht auf die frühe Besiedlung des Ellis-Systems um 2467 zurück. Der Schritt der Regierung, vier Planeten gleichzeitig im neu entdeckten System zu terraformen, führte zu einem notwendigerweise massiven Zustrom von Bevölkerung und Weltraumausrüstung. Mit wenig zu tun, als darauf zu warten, dass ihre Maschinen beginnen, die planetarischen Kerntemperaturen zu verändern, begannen Terraformer und ihre Familien, die Zeit zu vertreiben, indem sie ihre ungenutzten Arbeitsraumschiffe in Betrieb nahmen. Bald wurden provisorische Rennstrecken mit übriggebliebener Terraform-Ausrüstung gebaut und das Firmenfahrzeug auf Geschwindigkeit umgestellt. Es musste sein, dass das Rennen nichts zu tun hatte, während man nicht terraformte, sondern dass das Terraforming etwas war, das man tat, damit man fahren konnte. Die Popularität des Zeitvertreibs breitete sich über das System hinaus aus, und bald kamen auch Nicht-Terraformer an, um sich auf dem anspruchsvollen Kurs zu versuchen. In der Zwischenzeit roch Amon Murray nach Gewinn. Murray war ein Verbrecher und ein Spieler, der ein kleines Vermögen sammelte, indem er gelangweilte Terraformer-Medikamente und andere Schmuggelware verkaufte. Er war fasziniert von den provisorischen Rennen, nicht als Wettkämpfer, sondern als Organisator und Buchmacher; er begann, Wetten auf die Amateurrennen anzunehmen. Nach sechs Monaten stellte Murray fest, dass er mehr Geld mit dem Buchen von Wetten verdiente, als mit Schmuggelware. Niemanden, der ein kleines Vermögen nehmen würde, wenn ein großes Unternehmen dicht dahinter stehen könnte, verpflichtete Murray Ressourcen zur Legitimation der Rennen und bot eine kleine Kreditbörse für den Gewinner dessen, was auf Drängen von Murray als der erste Murray Cup bekannt wurde. Dieses erste offizielle Rennen endete mit Ian Rikkord als Champion von 2479. Als atmosphärischer Spezialist für Gaia Planet Services wurde Rikkords Anspruch auf Ruhm zu dem schieren Maß an Individualisierung, das er auf sein RSI Nova-Kurierschiff anwandte, das eine fünfhundertjährige Tradition der persönlichen Modifikation von Stock-Satelliten durch Pokalsieger begann. Die Reaktion auf das neu organisierte Rennen war elektrisierend; neue Rennfahrer aus dem ganzen Reich und sogar darüber hinaus traten an, und mit jedem Jahr wurde der Cup-Preis größer. Bis 2488 war Murray "legitim geworden"; der einstige Drogenläufer hatte sich als Persönlichkeit des öffentlichen Lebens und Vater des modernen Starrennsports neu positioniert. Das Rennen Der Murray Cup ist in zwei Rassen unterteilt: Klassisch (einst umgangssprachlich Hase genannt) und Blitz (früher Schildkröte, oder Div- T). Klassischer Rennsport ist genau das, was man erwarten würde: Schiffe, die versuchen, sich so schnell wie möglich gegenseitig zu überholen. Blitz tritt in Kraft und ermöglicht es den Piloten (mit zunehmenden Einschränkungen im Laufe der Jahre), während des Wettlaufs begrenzte Kämpfe zu führen, um Konkurrenten zu deaktivieren, aber nicht zu zerstören. Obwohl die meisten Piloten dazu neigen, sich auf den einen oder anderen Rennsporttyp zu spezialisieren, um im Murray Cup wirklich erfolgreich zu sein, ist es wichtig, beide Skillsets zu beherrschen. Rennfahrer werden jahrelang trainieren, um ihren Off-Style zu verbessern, mit nur wenigen exemplarischen Piloten, die alle wirklich "ambidextrous" werden. Die Schwierigkeit des Murray Cup ergibt sich aus dem Kurs selbst, der sich nun über das gesamte Ellis-System erstreckt und aus mehreren Stufen besteht. Jedes Bein ist so konzipiert, dass es die Vorteile der natürlichen nachteiligen stellaren Hindernisse, die im System vorhanden sind, wie Asteroidengürtel und Schwerkraftbrunnen, und in den letzten Jahrhunderten von Menschen geschaffene Hindernisse wie variable Agilität Ringe und Ziel-Torschleusen nutzt. Einige Abschnitte der Strecke erfordern bekanntlich ein so hohes Maß an Präzision, dass sie sich berühmte Spitznamen wie "Trauermeer" oder "Boneyard" verdient haben. So sehr sich der Murray Cup auch um eine stolze Renntradition dreht, so sehr nehmen die Offiziellen der Liga weiterhin jährliche Änderungen an der Strecke vor, um den hohen Schwierigkeitsgrad angesichts der nahezu ständigen Verbesserungen aufrechtzuerhalten, die Hersteller wie RSI und Origin entwickeln, um ihre Rennfahrzeuge immer schneller und manövrierfähiger zu machen. Natürlich ist ein Schiff nichts ohne einen Lotsen, und mit der Live-Übertragung des Murray Cup im gesamten Spektrum werden die Cup-Gewinner schnell zu Legenden. Es gibt nur wenige, die sich den Sport vorstellen können, ohne Größen wie Terra McConoway zu erwähnen, die 2495 die erste Person war, die zwei Murray Cups gewann, oder Issigon Ado, der als erster Banu überhaupt gewann. Dann gibt es diejenigen, die Geschichte nicht nur dadurch schreiben, dass sie gewinnen, sondern auch dadurch, wie sie es tun. Nehmen wir Dax "The Hax" Emmelmann, der 2731 mit den stark modifizierten Triebwerken seiner Aurora einen neuen Geschwindigkeitsrekord aufstellte. Generationen von Tüftlern haben sich seitdem weiter bemüht, diesen Rekord noch weiter voranzutreiben. Dann ist da noch die inspirierende Geschichte von Fabis Capaldi, der 2798 trotz des Rauk-Syndroms gewann, eine wahre Lehre, dass alles möglich ist. In den letzten Jahren haben wir den Aufstieg von Größen wie der Bakshi Racingfamilie erlebt, die fast 40 Jahre Rennen und 3 Siege unter ihren kombinierten Gürteln und vieles mehr feiern. Die Underdog Hypatia Darring hat immer noch Fans, die nach ihrem spannenden Sieg im Jahr 2934 aus dem Ruhestand kommen wollen. Doch tragischerweise ist der Pilot, der immer noch an vorderster Front in den Köpfen der meisten Menschen steht, der Gewinner von 2942, der verstorbene Zack Hugh. Überarbeitung der Regeln Hunderte von Rennfahrern und Zuschauern wurden durch Unfälle in einer halben Million Murray-Cup-Rennen getötet. Keiner hat jedoch die Galaxie und Rennkultur erschüttert wie der Unfall, der den 2942 Murray Cup zum Abschluss brachte. Nach einem hart umkämpften Rennen begann Pilot Zack Hugh die traditionelle Siegerrunde, nur um von einem Amateurpiloten, der die Kontrolle über sein Schiff verloren hatte, kopfüber getroffen zu werden. Mit diesem traurigen Ende wurde der größte Preis des Rennsports an eine Witwe vergeben, und die Murray Cup Racing League rückte hinter verschlossene Türen, um die Zukunft des Events erneut zu gestalten. Im Jahr 2943 kündigte Kommissar Marco Verender an, dass das Qualifikationsverfahren des Rennens nach der Tragödie von 2942 erneut überprüft werde. Ab dem diesjährigen Rennen wird die Qualifikation nun durch ein Punktesystem bestimmt, das sich über die gesamte Cup-Rennsaison erstreckt. Piloten, die sich für das große Finale qualifizieren wollen, müssen zwanzig "Punkte" sammeln, indem sie sich in anderen autorisierten Cup-Rennen platzieren, wobei drei Punkte für den ersten Platz, zwei für den zweiten und einer für den dritten vergeben werden. Die Änderung sowie die Aktualisierung der Regeln für Blitzwaffenstaaten wurden von Rassenspekulanten scharf kritisiert, die der Meinung sind, dass sie die Tradition im Namen von Sicherheit und Ordnung verbilligen. Die Gesamtwirkung des Rennens wird bald bekannt sein: Die diesjährige Saison neigt sich dem Ende zu und eine Reihe von herausragenden Piloten, die bereits die notwendigen zwanzig Punkte erreicht haben, werden von den Medien aufmerksam verfolgt. The Murray Cup is the unquestioned jewel in star racing’s triple crown. Every year, top racing teams pour blood, sweat and money into attempting to take the top ranking in the challenging system-wide race. Race History The Murray Cup tradition dates back to the early settlement of the Ellis System circa 2467. The government’s move to terraform four planets at once in the newly discovered system lead to a necessarily massive influx of population and space equipment. With little to do beyond wait for their machines to begin altering planetary core temperatures, terraformers and their families began to pass the time by racing their idle work spacecraft. Soon, makeshift racing challenge tracks were constructed using leftover terraforming equipment, and company craft were modified for speed. It got to be that racing wasn’t something to do while not terraforming, but rather that the terraforming was something you did so you could race. The pastime’s popularity spread beyond the system, and soon non-terraformers began to arrive to try their hand on the challenging course. Meanwhile, Amon Murray smelled profit. Murray was a criminal and a gambler who amassed a small fortune by selling bored terraformers drugs and other contraband. He became fascinated with the makeshift races, not as a competitor but as an organizer and bookie; he began taking bets on the amateur system races. After six months, Murray found that he was making more money from booking bets than he was dealing contraband. Never one to take a small fortune when a large one might be close behind, Murray committed resources to legitimizing the races, offering a small credit purse for the winner of what became known as, at Murray’s insistence, the first Murray Cup. This first official race concluded with Ian Rikkord as the 2479 champion. An atmospheric specialist for Gaia Planet Services, Rikkord’s claim to fame became the sheer amount of customization he applied to his RSI Nova courier ship, beginning a five-century tradition of cup winners personally modifying stock spacecraft. The reaction to the newly organized racing was electric; new racers from all over the Empire and even beyond were lining up to take part, and with each successive year the Cup prize became larger. By 2488, Murray had “gone legit”; the erstwhile drug runner had repositioned himself as a public figure and the father of modern star racing. The Race The Murray Cup is divided into two race types: Classic (once colloquially called Hare) and Blitz (formerly Tortoise, or Div- T). Classic racing is exactly what would be expected: ships trying to out-navigate each other as quickly as possible. Blitz takes into effect ships’ weaponry, allowing pilots (with increasing restrictions over the years) to engage in limited combat during the race to disable, but not destroy, competitors. Though most pilots tend to specialize in one racing type or the other, to really become successful in the Murray Cup, it is important to master both skillsets. Racers will train for years to improve their ‘off style,’ with only a few exemplary pilots every becoming truly ‘ambidextrous.’ The Murray Cup’s inherent difficulty comes from the course itself, which now spans the entirety of the Ellis system and consists of multiple stages. Each leg is designed to take advantage of natural adverse stellar obstacles present in the system, such as asteroid belts and gravity wells, and, in the last few centuries, man-made obstacles like variable agility rings and targeting gate-locks. Some sections of the track notoriously require such a high level of precision piloting that they have earned themselves infamous nicknames such as the ‘Sorrow Sea’ or the ‘Boneyard.’ However, as much as the Murray Cup is about a proud racing tradition, the officials in the League continue to make annual alterations to the track in order to maintain the high degree of difficulty in the face of near constant improvements that manufacturers like RSI and Origin are engineering to make their racing craft ever faster and more maneuverable. Of course, a ship is nothing without a pilot, and with the Murray Cup broadcast live across the spectrum, Cup winners quickly become legends in their own right. There are few who can think of the sport without mentioning greats like Terra McConoway, who in 2495 became the first person to ever win two Murray Cups, or Issigon Ado, who ushered in an era of interspecies participation as the first Banu to ever win. Then there are those who make history not just by winning, but by how they do it. Take Dax “The Hax” Emmelmann, who in 2731 set a new speed record thanks to his Aurora’s heavily modified thrusters. Generations of tinkers since have continued to strive to push that record even farther. Then there is the inspirational tale of Fabis Capaldi, who won in 2798 despite suffering from Rauk’s syndrome, a true lesson that anything is possible. In more recent years, we have seen the rise of greats like the Bakshi racing family, who have almost 40 years of racing and 3 victories under their combined belts and many more to come. Underdog Hypatia Darring still has fans clamoring for her to come out of retirement after her thrilling come-frombehind win in 2934. Yet tragically, the pilot who is still at the forefront of most people’s minds is 2942’s winner, the late Zack Hugh. Rules Revision Fatalities are no stranger to star racing; hundreds of racers and spectators have been killed as a result of accidents in a half-millenia of Murray Cup racing. None, however, have shaken the galaxy and racing culture like the accident that capped the 2942 Murray Cup. After a hard fought race, pilot Zack Hugh began the traditional victory lap, only to be hit headfirst by an amateur pilot, a lap behind, who had lost control of his ship. With that sad ending, racing’s greatest prize was awarded to a widow and the Murray Cup Racing League moved behind closed doors to once more adjust the future of the event. In 2943, Commissioner Marco Verender announced that the race’s qualification process was being revisited in the wake of the 2942 tragedy. Starting with this year’s race, qualification is now determined by a point system that spans the entirety of the Cup racing season. Pilots who wish to qualify for the grand finalé must earn twenty “points” by placing in other authorized Cup races, with three points awarded for first place, two for second and one for third. The change, as well as updates to the rules for Blitz weaponry states, have been roundly criticized by race speculators who feel it cheapens the tradition in the name of safety and order. The overall impact to the race will be known soon: this year’s season is drawing to a close and a number of standout pilots who have already achieved the necessary twenty points are being followed closely by the media. Links ----- No links available. Images ------ 2 image/png [ ![](https://robertsspaceindustries.com/media/fm6lu7o8u7s0qr/source/Murraycup.png) ](https://robertsspaceindustries.com/media/fm6lu7o8u7s0qr/source/Murraycup.png) Murraycup.png [Details](https://api.star-citizen.wiki/comm-links/images/2276) Last Modified 11 years ago Size 1.17 MB [Source](https://robertsspaceindustries.com/media/fm6lu7o8u7s0qr/source/Murraycup.png) [Info](https://api.star-citizen.wiki/comm-links/images/2276) image/jpeg [ ![](https://media.robertsspaceindustries.com/weozjmuuh3hwh/source.jpg) ](https://media.robertsspaceindustries.com/weozjmuuh3hwh/source.jpg) source.jpg [Details](https://api.star-citizen.wiki/comm-links/images/26463) Last Modified 6 years ago Size 823.29 KB [Source](https://media.robertsspaceindustries.com/weozjmuuh3hwh/source.jpg) [Info](https://api.star-citizen.wiki/comm-links/images/26463) Metadata -------- CIG ID 14188 Channel Undefined Category Undefined Series Portfolio Comments 84 Published 11 years ago (2014-10-01T00:00:00+00:00) [RSI Article](https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/spectrum-dispatch/14188-Portfolio-The-Murray-Cup) [API](https://api.star-citizen.wiki/api/comm-links/14188)