WGPC Nexus Racing Press Conference (Now open for questions)

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

OOC:

This topic is part of the larger World Grand Prix Championship Season 15 roleplay; please see the main thread if you want to learn more about that. A transcript of the roleplaying here will be posted there.

Thread Rules

• Please signify OOC (Out Of Context/Character) text clearly to differentiate it from IC (In Context/Character) roleplaying. This is typically done by typing 'OOC:' before any OOC text.
• Generally speaking, those attending the press conference will be interested parties: mostly journalists with possibly a few members of rival teams, representatives of prospective sponsors and so forth. So long as you don't roleplay as someone whose characters aren't yours (only Hodori Motorsports has the right to roleplay as someone from Arada Motorsport, for example) and stay within reason (no circus clowns, please), you should be fine. Please only ask questions to the interviewees if you're roleplaying as a journalist, however.
• Please ask questions to those being interviewed at the conference one at a time; if there is an outstanding post detailing a question for the interviewees (one that has not been answered by myself), please do not add another until it is no longer outstanding.
• Feel free to use the material here for press coverage of the event, should you so desire; that is the point of a press conference, after all!

Key Background Information

This press conference is being held after the announcement that Nexus Racing will be competing in the World Grand Prix Championships. Those to be interviewed are Ryker Lane, Nimban former street racer in the 'Cityprix' series, who had been rumoured to be working with Nexus Racing for some time before official confirmation of his position as one of their drivers this morning, Timothy Guard, Project Manager of Nexus Racing, Gertrude Thompson, Chief Designer of Nexus Racing's 'Ultra High Speed Ground Vehicle 1' (UHSGV-1), nicknamed 'Chase Cutter', and Jacob Gibbons, Minister for Sport of the Ministerial Offices, the Nimban executive.

Nexus Racing grew from a department of the R&D division of the Assembly, one of the four Factions of the New Nexus Force, the Nimban military. Originally codenamed 'Project Overdrive', its purpose was to advance the design of the principle ground vehicle of the Venture League Faction, the lightly-armoured, fast-moving Dragoon, for greater speed, reduction of drag and, most importantly, traction - the nature of the origin of the Nimban nation being a group of disgruntled survivors somehow shunted from another universe left the modern Wardship with an excellent understanding of physics along with, now, their newly-restored Imagination and the technology based on it (or 'Imagitech' as it is colloquially known), but barely any surrounding biology or much of chemistry, including such mundane things as the chemistry of tyres.

Project Overdrive continued for about a year, making some progress with the Dragoon's design but without many major breakthroughs, until three years ago the Nimban Ministers for Sport and for Science and Technology decided to enter a national team for the WGPC; with permission from the Minister for Warfare, Project Overdrive was reimagined as Nexus Racing for this purpose. This year's entry is the first manifestation of their efforts; the team is currently looking for a second driver to join Nimban Ryker Lane.

Nexus Racing 'Chase Cutter' UHSGV-1


'Chase Cutter' without driver livery (as seen in published materials and one live demonstration)

Name: Ryker Lane
Gender: Male
Nationality: Nimban
Age: 22
Helmet Colour: Dark blue with light blue and gold highlights
Bio: Ryker is a part of the Lane family, famous in the Nimban origin universe for their racing prowess and high-adrenaline exploits more generally. Upholding the family name, Ryker had been advancing through the government-run 'Cityprix' street racing scene before it was rumoured that he was head-hunted to work in car development with and drive for Nexus Racing.

Ryker is something of a maverick, a trait inherited from his forebearers which he became known for during his street racing days, something that won him both races, adopting unconventional tactics to wrongfoot the competition, and a great many fans, since the entire culture of the Wardship revolves around free-thinking and difference.

The four interviewees enter from a door in the back corner of the small room that is to host the press conference; those attending are assembled on seats in front of a table and chairs at which they take seats. The conference is then opened to questions.

[Audioslavia]

An old Audioslavian journalist, standing at the back of the crowded conference room, arms folded, eyes partially obscured by a slightly scuffed trilby, slightly sour smell coming from his long, brown, ancient-looking mackintosh coat, raises his hand.*

"There's a long list of drivers who've signed up to race this season. Which ones do you know about? Which ones have you had your eye on?"

*Why the descriptiveness? It's a looong story.

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

An old Audioslavian journalist, standing at the back of the crowded conference room, arms folded, eyes partially obscured by a slightly scuffed trilby, slightly sour smell coming from his long, brown, ancient-looking mackintosh coat, raises his hand.*

"There's a long list of drivers who've signed up to race this season. Which ones do you know about? Which ones have you had your eye on?"

*Why the descriptiveness? It's a looong story.

Guard nods, smiling. "Obviously we've been following the scene for some time, despite the fact that we're new to the WGPC, so all the big names - your Madisons, Lunds, Franssens - are known to us. Currently, though, I'd like some more new blood on the team, someone who hasn't been in the Championships before; our team and car are quite different from most, so someone from 'the establishment', stuck in the paradigms that they've learned over their WGPC racing careers, might grate. I mean, if someone like that can come and prove to us that they can adapt and work well with Nexus Racing then we'll consider them, sure, but we're not really focussed on that now - we want someone who doesn't have any binding expectations of how a WGPC racing team and car operates."

He seems content to leave it there, but Thompson leans over to tap him on the shoulder. "What, you aren't going to mention Pedano-"

Timothy laughs. "Alright, alright. Yes, we've been tracking the progress of the Serbian driver Marika Pedanovic for some time. She's not driven in the Championships before but she has competed in an array of different and diverse racing series and worked for more teams than I can name, so she should be able to fit into our outfit easily, and she has more than enough skill to handle the car - which isn't great at turning corners at the best of times. Plus," he smirks, looking over at the driver to his right who is trying his hardest to not be noticed blushing, "Ryker over here's a big fan of hers. But, again, we'd have to see how well she actually does in a trial period working with the team before we make any decisions."

[Ethane]

A member of the Ethanese press, who has been sent to cover the Nexus Racing Press Conference, asks a question.

'Ethane has two drivers competing this year, and at least one of them is looking for a ride. How interested would the Nexus Racing Team be in taking one of the drivers on for their second driver role?'

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

A member of the Ethanese press, who has been sent to cover the Nexus Racing Press Conference, asks a question.

'Ethane has two drivers competing this year, and at least one of them is looking for a ride. How interested would the Nexus Racing Team be in taking one of the drivers on for their second driver role?'

"There's the possibility," Guard admits. "Talison isn't our top priority at the moment, but we're certainly considering inviting him to be the driver for one of our trialling periods."

[Lisander]

A young female reporter, with a high ponytail and big glasses reporting for TV5Sports, the main sports channel in the nation, advances with a question.

—Melissa Thyme, from TV5Sports, Lisander. A common practice in Lisander and some other countries is the use of pay-drivers, drivers backed by a sponsor. What Nexus racing thinks about this system?

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

A young female reporter, with a high ponytail and big glasses reporting for TV5Sports, the main sports channel in the nation, advances with a question.

—Melissa Thyme, from TV5Sports, Lisander. A common practice in Lisander and some other countries is the use of pay-drivers, drivers backed by a sponsor. What Nexus Racing thinks about this system?

"I'm not going to comment on other teams," Guard answers, "but I will say that we have a very stable source of income." He smiles, glancing appreciatively at the now-chuckling Gibbons. "Since we're government-funded, we can afford to judge drivers on ability rather than on any money that they might bring into the team. It's a great position to be in for us at Nexus Racing, since it means that we can just get on and deliver the best competition - and results - for ourselves and our fans here and, hopefully, across the world!"

He laughs. "Hey, enough questions for me - that's three in a row, now! There are other people sitting here, you know!"

[West-East Timor]

A young West-East Timorian journalist sent to the press conference says:

"Wait, I've got a question for you too. But, if anybody else is able to answer it, that is possible too. As you know there are two West-East Timorian drivers currently looking for a drive in the upcoming season. Especially the younger one, Timo Jänkinää, would perfectly fit to your description of a 'young, passionate, yet competent driver'. What do you think of him?"

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

A young West-East Timorian journalist sent to the press conference says:

"Wait, I've got a question for you too. But, if anybody else is able to answer it, that is possible too. As you know there are two West-East Timorian drivers currently looking for a drive in the upcoming season. Especially the younger one, Timo Jänkinää, would perfectly fit to your description of a 'young, passionate, yet competent driver'. What do you think of him?"

Guard does briefly reply: "Yes, both are certainly considerations for us; again, it all depends on how well they work with the team if we decide to invite either of them to trial with us." He smirks. "Though that quotation didn't come from me."

At this point those managing the event ask for questions to be directed at any of the other three people on the panel.

[Audioslavia]

"I have a question for Ryker" came one voice, a few rows forward from the old Audioslavian man at the back. He noticed Timothy Guard's look of relief.

"The last three WGPC seasons have seen two rookie drivers crowned champions. How confident are you of accomplishing the same feat? And... and this might be in Gertrude Thompson's field too... how are you going to wrestle with the car's problems? We hear rumours that, for all the flashy knobs and buttons, it has all the cornering capabilities of a... er... of a 'particularly immobile soviet oiltanker in a narrow hallway', so one report goes."

The reporter blushed slightly, not only through having accidentally disparaged the team's new car without thinking, but because he could hear a chuckle from the old journalist at the back of the room.

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

"I have a question for Ryker" came one voice, a few rows forward from the old Audioslavian man at the back. He noticed Timothy Guard's look of relief.

"The last three WGPC seasons have seen two rookie drivers crowned champions. How confident are you of accomplishing the same feat? And... and this might be in Gertrude Thompson's field too... how are you going to wrestle with the car's problems? We hear rumours that, for all the flashy knobs and buttons, it has all the cornering capabilities of a... er... of a 'particularly immobile soviet oiltanker in a narrow hallway', so one report goes."

The reporter blushed slightly, not only through having accidentally disparaged the team's new car without thinking, but because he could hear a chuckle from the old journalist at the back of the room.

Ryker laughs at that last comment, though Thompson's reaction is to frown and cross her arms. "Yeah, that's a bit of a sore point for our Chief Designer over here - you'll definitely want to hear her take." This earns him a scowl. "Anyway, winning the WGPC? Yeah, it's possible, and I know that I have some great people and machinery behind me, so I've got as good a chance as anyone. I suppose that I'm also an unknown for most of the competition, so I've got that advantage too!"

He turns to his left, smirking and crossing his arms. "Now, Chief Designer, you want to talk abou-"

"Tyres."

Gertrude is now sitting facing forward, her head down, eyes closed, her finger pressed against her temples, her thumbs on her cheekbones and her elbows on the table. "It's all down to the tyres."

She opens her eyes, revealing a look of combined outrage and despair, and swings her arms down to hold her hands out in front of her, still looking forward and downwards. "The UHSGV-1 should be one of the best-handling cars in the field. It's got a powertrain that combines electric 4WD and the direct, even application of kinetic energy across the car - what other car has a system that so effectively avoids oversteer and understeer? It's got systems that actively change the car's aerodynamic profile for cornering. It's got onboard computers that control the suspension and rotation of each individual wheel. I even built in an underbody cross-flow fan - a fan, for Imagination's sake - for additional downforce! But no, our great and glorious Wardship, with enough scientific understanding to be able to physically simulate individual thoughts, still hasn't managed to figure out how to manufacture half-decent racing tyre compounds, so my masterpiece has to slow to the speed of a gentle stroll to be able to turn a corner!"

She now looks upwards, her thumb and forefinger clasped to her chin with a mock expression of thought on her face. "Oh, but wait - surely you can ask a foreign company to make tyres for you? Well, guess what? That doesn't really work when you're operating as part of a team as secretive as the Paradox! You can't just go out and work with a tyre manufacturer when that would involve revealing informa-"

Guard interrupts Thompson before her rant can go any further. "Yes, I think that we get the idea. On the plus side, we don't have to be nearly as secretive now that we're out in the open, so I'd like to use the opportunity to announce that Nexus Racing is now indeed looking for a company to supply us with tyres for the coming season and potentially longer; please do get in touch with us as soon as possible if you are interested." He glances to his left. "You would make a certain somebody very happy."

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

There is a slightly awkward silence around the room after this outburst, Gertrude Thompson now quietly performing some sort of breathing exercise to calm down. The other three interviewees wait patiently to be asked questions; Ryker particularly anticipates a question, since Gibbons is probably of least interest to the journalists and likely to be left until later, Guard has indicated his preference for questions to be directed towards the other three and Thompson - well, Thompson is probably going to be left alone for a while...

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

A Nimban journalist pipes up. "Talia Veras for the Bullhorn - Ryker, how difficult has it been to adjust from Cityprix's cars to the UHSGV-1 and how secure do you feel with your vehicle going into the Championship? The two formulae are obviously a far cry from one another in terms of machinery."

Ryker nods, smiling. "Yeah, they are. The main thing that you're going to see at home if you watch both is the difference in speed; Cityprix machinery just doesn't move as fast as our Chase Cutter does. For me as a driver, though, the biggest changes are the technical ability needed. The Chase Cutter is just downright complicated. I mean, it's still a car, but the amount of options and variables you can tweak while driving is insane. Comparing my old Bolter to that is like comparing a bird to an aeroplane; it's a quantum leap behind. Gertrude wasn't kidding when she said that this was her masterpiece."

"Still, I've had a ton of time to practice with it over at the test track that the team's got, and Cityprix cars don't have much grip at all in comparison to the Chase Cutter; all of those mechanical aids really, really do help. So yeah, I'd say that I'm happy with my driving at the moment, though of course there's always some room to improve."

[Ethane]

An online blogger from Ethane who is blogging the World Grand Prix Championships speaks up, asking a question.

'How hard was it to design the car, Gertrude Thompson, and how have you managed to make such an amazing car while sticking to all the regulations and kept the car viable for the tracks it will be driving on?'

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

An online blogger from Ethane who is blogging the World Grand Prix Championships speaks up, asking a question.

'How hard was it to design the car, Gertrude Thompson, and how have you managed to make such an amazing car while sticking to all the regulations and kept the car viable for the tracks it will be driving on?'

Thompson appears to have calmed down sufficiently to answer the question, though she seems surprised that she is being asked another so soon. "The wonderful thing about the WGPC is the lack of technical regulations other than vague requirements on shape, so you can put in almost anything so long as it's practical - and of course, we Nimbans are known for innovation and creative thinking. It helps, of course, to have the best designers and engineers in the New Nexus Force assigned to your team; while I did a lot of the conceptual and theoretical work, that work would never have been implemented without so many talented people behind me. As for tracks, we've been working on the UHSGV-1 on the basis of it being driven on the most demanding circuits in the world generally, so I have every confidence that it will perform well wherever we send it."

[The Serbian Empire]

Goran Stefanovic from the Serbian Sporting News here, "There have been rumors of the team having a fondness for Marika Pedanovic to be in the 2nd seat of the Nexus Racing team. Any other drivers that rouse the team's interest?"

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

Goran Stefanovic from the Serbian Sporting News here, "There have been rumors of the team having a fondness for Marika Pedanovic to be in the 2nd seat of the Nexus Racing team. Any other drivers that rouse the team's interest?"

The interviewees all look a bit confused at the question, Gertrude in particular appearing to mutter something to herself. Timothy answers, though his speech sounds slightly forced: "As I say, we want to do some trials with individual drivers before we confirm anything, though we have already stated our interest in Marika becoming a part of the team." He smiles cheerily before continuing, asking, "Could we have a few questions about things other than our driving lineup? You've got pretty much all of the information about drivers that we're interested in out of us."

[Mattijana]

A young reporter in the middle of the audience raises her hand.

"Jelena Nuremič from MattijanaFern here. As a new team, how do you plan to inject some experience and WGPC knowledge into the team, not just through your driver lineup, but through the engineering, management and team staff in general?"

[Aboveland]

Immediately after the Mattijanan's question, an Abovian freelance writer from worldgrandprixblog.co.ab speaks up: "What is Nexus Racing's goal in the championship titles this year? Will you be aiming for the win in both categories, drivers and teams, be content with winning one of them, or do you have modest expectations?"

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

A young reporter in the middle of the audience raises her hand.

"Jelena Nuremič from MattijanaFern here. As a new team, how do you plan to inject some experience and WGPC knowledge into the team, not just through your driver lineup, but through the engineering, management and team staff in general?"

Immediately after the Mattijanan's question, an Abovian freelance writer from worldgrandprixblog.co.ab speaks up: "What is Nexus Racing's goal in the championship titles this year? Will you be aiming for the win in both categories, drivers and teams, be content with winning one of them, or do you have modest expectations?"

Guard smiles, shaking his head. "In answer to Jelena's question, simply put, we aren't going to; that's not how we want to work. The team's view generally is that by coming at the Championship with a fresh pair of eyes, Nexus Racing can adapt and innovate in ways that established teams with set ways of thinking can't. That doesn't mean that we should reject traditional paradigms out of hand - we've been doing plenty of research on that front too, talking to old hands from other teams, studying race footage, that sort of thing - but instead we believe in analysing different techniques, technologies and approaches from an objective standpoint and picking out those which we believe are most effective, regardless of their previous history."

"Look at our powertrain, for example: we've combined Nimban Imagitech propulsion, something that the WGPC has never seen before, with more traditional electrical power and recovery systems, and the result, as I'm sure you saw during our prototype's demonstration a few months ago, was a very fast car. The freedom to think creatively and objectively is why we currently want ourselves to be an entirely new team for the Championship this season; people with set ideas on how things somehow ought to be done would compromise that working culture." Guard shrugs his shoulders. "Still, we could make exceptions if we felt that there was a person previously involved with the WGPC who was able to avoid following their old ideas for the sake of following those ideas; in the end, it all comes down to their individual willingness to change."

"When it comes to the second question, we want Nexus Racing to be constantly improving, so, while we would of course like to see good results in the Championship standings, it's more important to us that we're doing better towards the end of the season than at the beginning. Don't get me wrong - we want to win, but we want to be winning more as we continue to develop and innovate in every area of the team."

Guard's manner suggests that he is now resigned to being asked many more questions than his fellow interviewees.

[Eastfield Lodge]

"Hamza Farrell, Lodgertia Gazette. What benefits do you hope participation in the WGPC will bring to the wider Nimban public, especially as it seems this team is at least partly government-funded?"

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

"Hamza Farrell, Lodgertia Gazette. What benefits do you hope participation in the WGPC will bring to the wider Nimban public, especially as it seems this team is at least partly government-funded?"

Gibbons has been waiting for this moment. "First of all, there's the obvious cultural value; we Nimbans have quite the history of racing from our origin universe, so to honour that legacy in the WGPC is wonderful for us."

"There will also be technological improvement resulting from the pressures of the competition; already Nexus Racing's engineers been able to make our Imagikinetic converters far more compact." He chuckles. "My colleague Gilbert has been very happy about that one," he comments, referring to the Nimban Minister for Science and Technology.

"But most important is the fact that it will mean more quality sporting entertainment for the Nimban people. As Minister for Sport, that is something that I can always get behind - so, while the project of course had funding from its days as a military programme, I was more than happy to authorise the continuation of those funds."

Jacob glances to his right, at the three members of Nexus Racing sitting there, and smiles. "I think that they've been put to good use so far."

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

With the event managers wrapping things up, there is time for one more question, which is taken by a Nimban. “Thomas Strauss from Paddock Voice here. Obviously, Ryker, you haven’t been interacting with your fans and supporters as much recently, which we can now confirm is as a result of your working with Nexus Racing. Now that you’re back out in the open, are you going to be trying to get back to the levels of fan engagement that you had previously?”

Ryker grimaces slightly. “Yeah, sorry about that; we’ve obviously had to be a bit secretive about this whole thing - that extends to me, too.” He brightens up. “Still, you’re right - I’ll be getting out into the community a bit more often now, though not as much as I’d like to be - I’ve got testing and so on that I need to be involved with. If not for that, I’d be out talking to my fans every day.” He looks directly into a camera that is broadcasting the press conference live. “Seriously, thanks to everyone who follows me - first for waiting this long and trusting me when I said that I’d be back in racing at some point and second for being such a great crowd. You guys are the best.”

Guard has time to issue two final statements. “Before we go, there are three things that I need to say. First, obviously, thank you for having us here; we want as many people to get engaged with what we’re doing as possible.”

“Secondly, as I alluded to earlier, we’re going to be setting up some trial periods for drivers who might join the team in which they’ll work with us for three days so that we can assess how good a fit they would be for a drive with Nexus Racing. We will be sending out invitations to drivers who we’re particularly interested in, but those who don’t shouldn’t be put off getting in touch with us.”

“That brings me onto my final point, that the official Nexus Racing website at www.nexusracingwgpc.nim will be going up soon with a whole bunch of stuff for fans of the team. It will also contain sections with contact details for drivers who want to enquire about doing a trial period with us and for tyre manufacturers who want to help us to solve the problems that Gertrude was so eloquent in describing.” He smirks, glancing over at his colleague who is pointedly looking elsewhere. “Sponsorship is available.”

“Again, thanks to everyone for coming out to talk to us, and you’ll see us on the track soon!”

The four file out of the room and the conference adjourns.