H1 E-League Racing with HydroSim

The COVID-19 Pandemic is impacting all reaches of our society. Closer to home, our beloved Unlimited Hydroplane Racing season continues to get hit, with one after another after another event cancellation announcements. H1 E-League Racing might be just the ticket.

Pandemic posturing started with H1’s announcement on March 26, 2020. Although hopeful for a successful season, they were already indicating the possibility of impacts to individual events. You can read the full announcement here:

So what’a a fan to do?

Well, us Damn Smart Fans are now able to enjoying some creative ways to be a part of the action!

Creative Problem Solving

H1 Unlimited has been a creative lot during this COVID-19 era. They of course have no control over the inability of race venues to allow thousands of people in one place. Hell, even the race sites don’t have that control. However, H1 did not just roll over and wait until next season, either.

Enter the H1 E-League

To salvage some 2020 racing, albeit in a “virtual” way, H1 Unlimited announced the 2020 H1 Unlimited E-League’s inaugural season. (5.31.20 UPDATE: H1 appears to be using this as the ongoing home for E-League updates. Initially it was the Guntersville announcement and currently shows Madison as the next race. Expect that page to evolve as the E-League season unfolds.)

The E-League is simulated racing of Unlimited Hydroplanes using the HydroSim game software platform developed by Scott Przybylski of San Diego, California.

HydroSim is a Hydroplane Racing simulator being used for the H1Unlimited E-League. It is based on the work Przybylski has done on the Unity gaming development platform. Here’s a look at some of his early work, testing the physics of a boat moving through the water:

HydroSim has been the platform supporting the Unlimited Hydroplane League for some time. H1 teams have now selected drivers, twelve in total, to represent them in this season. They will be driving virtual replicas of H1 Unlimited Hydroplanes on virtual replicas of the racing courses.

Drivers and teams will earn points toward the E-League Championship at the end of the season. Who knows? There might just be a second career for some of these simulated drivers when we get back to racing. Hmmmm….

2020 H1 E-League Schedule

First up: Guntersville

The first virtual race took place on May 23, 2020 “in” Guntersville, Alabama. OK, I’d be the first to admit this IS NOT real racing. However, having Brad Luce’s familiar voice as the play-by-play announcer gives us the best possible chance of immersing ourselves enough to really enjoy some racing!

David Campbell, Sports Writer for the Madison Courier provides a great recap of the Guntersville Inaugural E-League Race.

He cites some great action along with some great finishes. I might suggest that a few of the teams might have experienced some of the best finishes they’ve seen in a long time!

Watch for my Video Recap update coming soon. (You can see the entire library of Video Recaps here.)

Here’s the entire 2020 E-League lineup. Specific dates coming soon:

• Guntersville
• APBA Gold Cup Madison Regatta, Madison IN
• Tri-Cities HAPO Columbia Cup
• HomeStreet Bank Cup at Seafair
• HomeStreet Bank San Diego Bayfair

More Creative Problem Solving: E-League Rules

We’re racing for points and a championship, so yep, we need rules. But those rules have had to become flexible as well to accommodate a new and very different “environment.” You can read the full rulebook from H1 here.

Reading the rules is pretty much like reading about a physical race, with information about lanes, buoys, heats, right-of-ways, and any number of additional requirements.

But as you can imagine, there must be accommodations made since this is taking place in a “gaming” environment “virtually.”

Here’s a few of my favorite rule book snippets, which I doubt we’ll see pertaining to any physical race any time soon. (By the way, I especially like 3.7 as being just a bit cheeky!)

• 2.1 Restarts: There will be NO restarts allowed during league races. Should you be disconnected from the server, problems with your wheel, have a blowover or anything that prevents you from completing the race, there will be no exceptions to this rule!

• 3.7 Rookies: If a driver has not competed in a previous H1 E-League Event, they will be given a Rookie Status. What this rookie status means is that during the race, the rookie drivers must stay outside or trail behind the field. After completion of 1 full event. A vote by the competition committee will be taken. If a majority of the committee believe that the Rookie has learned well enough to stick his nose in and race with everyone, they will be moved out of the rookie status. If the vote does not pass, they must run a full additional event as a rookie before moving out of rookie status.

• 4.1 Control Aids: A hydroplane must get its control inputs directly from the driver’s input device (racing wheel and pedals, game controller, or keyboard/mouse.)

Will “Real” Racing Return in 2020?

It appears the Water Follies board will be meeting on Monday, June 1. We can expect some sort of announcement coming out of that meeting.

Hard to tell how the rest of the season will play out. Bayfair may have the best chance since it is furthest out into the future and we may (or may not) have a chance to get back to normal social distance by then.

Be Flexible; Be Safe

Let’s allow ourselves to adjust to some strange conditions. Let’s allow ourselves to have some fun in the meantime. But most importantly, let’s allow ourselves the opportunity to stay safe and healthy.

Be well.

UHR Dave