Formula Lego: Season 07
Season 7 saw the rise of a new World Title Winner, the falling out of two long-tied teams, and the further dominance of another team.
Technical Changes
Before the start of the Year 250 Season, Kai Octan began research on a new type of engine, potentially capable of out horse-powering even Michael Osborne’s outstanding 10-cylinder regenerative turbo-hybrid; a flywheel regenerating turbo-hybrid dodeca-rotor Wankel Engine (also known as a Rotary Engine). However, it didn’t matter, since for the next few years, Michael Osborne’s team would remain dominant. Throughout the season, his drivers won 4 of the races, including his daughter Avayah scoring her first win in the final race of the season. During Season 7, the changes were much less visible than in previous seasons, with only a very few updates being made to the aerodynamics package of all three cars, including slightly different wing configurations adding to the repertoire of available options on the Octan and National Teams, and better diffuser dynamics for Osborne. The biggest differences that came out of this season were the new engine specs. Octan upgraded to a brand-new type of engine, a flywheel regenerating turbo-hybrid dodeca-rotor Wankel Engine. while not weighing any more than their previous UX8, the speed achievable by the URX1 had to be capped, since the highly unconventional, complicated rotors could only handle up to 6 Gs. However, like most of the engines, top speed was rarely achieved in any of the races. Osborne’s 10-cylinder regenerative turbo-hybrid was on track to be outpaced by the URX1, however, several significant upgrades to the fuel injection as well as some other modifications led to his new 10-cylinder regenerative bi-turbo hybrid (OsbA28F) once again remaining superior. In what was later called Enginegate, the National team wasn’t informed by Octan of their new Wankel Engine , and were just sold UX9 engines – barely upgraded versions of Octan’s Season 6 engine, the UX8, which Octan had originally reported they intended to run Season 7 on. National ended up running on a severely modified, underpowered engine, with extremely bad cornering abilities. However, many observers believed that the UX9Y was an incredible feat of engineering for the small group of National Engineers, who had made quite impressive upgrades to a disappointing Engine. National finished the season a distant 3rd in the Constructor's Title race, scoring only 8 points to Octan’s 12, and Osborne’s 34, however, early projections based on the performance of unmodified UX9s had said there was a possibility that National might not even finish with 5 constructor points. The sudden change of Engine Type by Octan, especially without announcing it until after they’d sold National underwhelming engines, really marked the beginning of a falling out between the two teams, which culminated at the end of Season 8, when National severed all ties with Octan, and began developing all their own hardware in-house.
Team Rosters
| League # | Team # | Name | Experience |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Josep Vikalkin | 6 Seasons Osborne |
| 14 | 23 | Sira Bowler | Team Rookie, 5 Seasons National |
| 3 | 3 | Jacob Norris | 6 Seasons Osborne |
| 46 | 17 | Kira Sanchez | 3 Season Osborne, S4 & S5 Champion |
| 26 | 18 | Logan Latifi | 3 Seasons Osborne, 3 Seasons Octan |
| 47 | 19 | Sean Vettel | 3 Seasons Osborne |
| 7 | 7 | Avayah Osborne | 6 Seasons Osborne |
| 55 | 22 | Carl Shwartzman | Team Rookie, 2 Seasons National |
| 9 | 9 | Nocah Tsunoda | 6 Seasons Osborne |
| 10 | 20 | Hannah Stroll | 5 Seasons Osborne |
| League # | Team # | Name | Experience |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 1 | Vance Lewison | 6 Seasons National, S2 Champion |
| 24 | 36 | Thomas Collet | Team Rookie, 5 Seasons Octan |
| 66 | 37 | Julie Smolyar | Rookie |
| 67 | 38 | Nicole Correa | Rookie |
| 2 | 32 | Kyle Giovinazzi | 2 Seasons National, 2 Seasons Octan, 2 Seasons Osborne |
| 27 | 27 | Eva Sayll | 2 Season National, 4 Seasons Octan, S6 Champion |
| 44 | 39 | Anna Aster | Team Rookie, 3 Seasons Octan |
| 68 | 40 | Lisa Iwasa | Rookie |
| 62 | 35 | Russel Perez | 1 Season National |
| 58 | 30 | Ella Fader | 2 Seasons National |
| League # | Team # | Name | Experience |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | 1 | Salem Hoods | 6 Seasons Octan, S1 Champion |
| 22 | 2 | Mikael Cagne | 6 Seasons Octan, S3 Champion |
| 23 | 14 | Lily Gasly | 5 Seasons Octan, 1 Season Osborne |
| 63 | 18 | Benjamin Urgan | 1 Season Octan |
| 64 | 19 | Julia Young | 1 Season Octan |
| 35 | 15 | Pierre Zendeli | 3 Season Octan, 2 Seasons National |
| 58 | 17 | Lily Octan | 2 Seasons Octan |
| 65 | 20 | Thomas Hauger | 1 Season Octan |
| 69 | 21 | Christina Fittipaldi | Rookie |
| 30 | 10 | Jeremy Cohen | 6 Seasons Octan |
Season Progression
For the first time, during this season Kira Sanchez was soundly beaten in her quest for the title. Josep Vikalkin, the highest scoring Driver of all time (surpassing Vance Lewison by just 15 points, and Mikael Cagne by 35 points) took on that award along with his first driver’s title this season, beating out Kira Sanchez 415 points to 380. The first thing that he said, after winning the title with a second-place finish in the 6th race was an apology to Sanchez for “Ruining [her] season twice in a row.” Live on television, before all the racers had even finished the race, Kira Sanchez climbed out of her car, under the flood lights lighting up the night race, hugged Vikalkin, and congratulated him on his achievement. According to everyone involved, including Sanchez’ personal trainer and Race Engineer said that she harboured no hard feelings towards teammate, which surprised many, many people, including 3rd place finisher Lily Gasly, who reportedly told her Race Engineer right after she got back that she was surprised that Sanchez hadn’t already killed Vikalkin. Contrary to what many people expected, though Sanchez was on record discussing how happy she was for her Teammate’s title, and never once said anything negative about Vikalkin.
Compared to Vikalkin’s relatively wide lead, a more interesting battle was the battle for second place. Sanchez, who finished 2nd; Gasly, who finished 3rd; and Sayll, who finished 4th, were only separated by a total of 10 points. It really was a throw-up between the three racers. However, with the surprise win of Avayah Osborne, Sayll lost her 2nd place attempt with a third-place finish. Sanchez, right on her heels, scored the 60 points she needed to come second, but almost had to share the place with Lily Gasly, who missed out on 4th place in the final race by less than a tenth of a second on Julia Young. Season Seven was extremely exciting for all of the racers and viewers, including a woman living in Karebyr, just east of Rennia. Bryne Ellys was the owner of Fire Wheels Ltd., a somewhat well-known custom supercar fabricator. Ellys figured that her company were capable of producing an EotLP F1-Capable Car, and the associated costs could easily be swallowed by the wealthy company’s advertising budget, especially since the Grand Prix were watched internationally. Starting after the Season 7 Finale, Ellys quietly began discussing with the EotLP GP commission about the potential for her company to enter in the next few seasons. The organisers were extremely open to the idea, and before the first race of the 8th Season, she was already hiring, and looking for prospective drivers.
Technical Details
For the 7th Season, Octan drove on the OE29C05 Chassis and the URX1 Engine, and Osborne raced on the Osb25N Chassis and the OsbA28F Engine. National ran a OE29C05A Chassis, and a UX9Y Engine.