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Read our recap of how ToxicMonkeyMZC won the URT Winter Rally title despite missing a race, along with news of who won the Soybean award, and when your Prize Race prizes will be paid out.
ToxicMonkeyMZC won the URT Winter Rally title last night with a determined drive in difficult conditions at Stone Park, and in doing so laid the ghosts of last year's dramatic final race failure to rest.
"It feels awesome. This has been my prime Torn objective for years now. Now I have to get the Audi." - ToxicMonkeyMZC, URT Winter Rally 2022 Champion
ToxicMonkeyMZC finished third in last year's Winter Rally, having gone into the final race in second with the title very much in his sights. However, as race fans remember well, Storm1968 overhauled a 30-second deficit to take the 2021 Winter title in the very last race. But this year, there was no final race drama, and no heartbreak for Toxic either, with our newly-crowned champion well-deserving of his title after leading the rally for the final four races.
URT Summer 2020 champion Bronx took second place, with Winter 2019 runner-up the_gunners2004 sneaking into third thanks to a fine victory in the final race. Read on to find out how Toxic secured his title, what he's won, who takes home the Soybean award, and when all those Prize Race prizes will be paid out!
Toxic Takes The Title
ToxicMonkeyMZC's campaign began in average fashion with a 23rd-place finish at Convict followed by a 15th-place at Mudpit. But TM soon began to show the kind of consistency expected of an experienced driver with back-to-back top-ten finishes at Hammerhead and Withdrawal. He followed this up with a disappointing 25th place at Two Islands, but soon got himself back on track with a 2nd place finish at Commerce.
ToxicMonkeyMZC's solid start had him in third place going into the seventh race of the rally, with MIA leading the pack ahead of Hammer in 2nd, and the top eight being separated by less than 20 seconds. But disaster would soon strike for Toxic at Speedway when the URT veteran and this year's top-ranked driver somehow conspired to miss the race entirely.
"As usual I was pretty drunk when the 10pm start came about. I remember I had timed a 100 lap race to finish in time for me to join the competition. I didn't have Torn up on either of my screens and was watching a film which snatched my brain away from reality. I was about 7 minutes too late when I finally came out of my funk. I honestly thought I would have no chance at that point. No excuses for missing the race. I was plastered." - ToxicMonkeyMZC
Pictured: The URT would like to thank ToxicMonkeyMZC for not trying to drive drunk like this guy.
Toxic saw the distance between himself and first triple from 10 to 30 seconds, but he managed to cut that by two seconds with a 7th-place finish at Parkland. TM lost more ground at Industrial, where the_gunners2004 took overall lead of the rally from Bronx, but Toxic clawed back all this and more at Vector with a 4th-place finish that pushed him up to 6th in the overall standings.
Pictured: Standings after Race 10 courtesy of Storm1968.
A gap of 26 seconds may seem like a lot, but it's the kind of time that can easily be gained back at one of the Winter Rally's long-haul races. The Docks very much falls into that category, with 20 laps around Torn's harbour taking nearly one hour to complete. TM finished in 3rd in this race and managed to cut the distance between himself and the_gunners2004 to just five seconds. TM's rally campaign was alive and kicking once more.
But he wasn't the only one with his eye on the prize. As we pushed on into the final week, our top five drivers were separated by just 16 seconds, and with the remaining races all taking between 20-35 minutes each, there were plenty of gains to be made for those with the talent to take them. Former URT champions Bronx and Hammer were among TM's rivals for top spot, and with high RS drivers like Nath and the_gunners2004 also looking in good form, it was anyone's guess as to where the title would be heading this year.
TM lost a small amount of time at Meltdown as the rally gained a new leader in the form of Cloudjumper, but Toxic's third-place at Uptown saw him overtake both CJ and Bronx to take the lead in the rally for the first time. His lead of 3 seconds was increased to 13 seconds at Uptown with an 8th-place finish, and Toxic held his nerve in the penultimate race at Sewage by finishing 4th to extend his lead further.
With TM having led the competition since race 13, some may have thought that the result of the Winter Rally was a foregone conclusion, especially as Toxic now held a lead of nearly sixteen seconds going into the final race. But there are no certainties in the Ultimate Racing Tournament, and our leader was made well aware of this after a disastrous start at Stone Park left him scrambling among the backmarkers.
Pictured: TM in 44th out of 47 drivers after 4 laps.
Toxic was as low as 44th by lap four, but one lap later he cut through the competition to push into the 30's. TM got stuck in the middle of the pack throughout the next few laps, but by lap 10 he was challenging for a spot in the top 20. However, with this being a rally format, the only thing that matters is your time compared to your rivals, and as the first drivers hit the halfway mark, TM found himself roughly three seconds behind his main rival Bronx, with Bronx needing to extend this by 13 seconds if he was to become the first driver to win both the Summer and Winter URT titles.
It was the_gunners2004 who led the race at this stage, but it was a big ask for them to challenge for the title, as they needed to end the race with a lead of more than a minute over TM to stand any chance at all. Cloudjumper and Nath were the only drivers besides TM and Bronx who were in with a chance of victory, but with those two needing to overhaul TM by 30-40 seconds each, and neither driver troubling the top spots midway through the Stone Park race, it looked like the final was a straight fight between Bronx and ToxicMonkeyMZC.
"That last race was terrifying, I'm pretty sure Bronx was ahead a couple of times and could easily have beaten me, I was very lucky." - ToxicMonkeyMZC
Bronx did his best as the race went on, and when he started to mix it with the frontrunners while TM fell back into the 30's, it looked like we could have yet another final day shock on our hands. But in the end, ToxicMonkeyMZC's lead was just too great to overcome, and when Bronx finished the race in 10th with a time of 26:35.04, he only had to look in his rearview mirror to realise that his title hopes were over.
ToxicMonkeyMZC finished the Stone Park final in 13th with a time of 26:36.79, just under 2 seconds slower than Bronx, a result which meant he ended the Winter Rally with an overall lead of 14.13 seconds. Bronx's 10th-place finish was enough to give him the runner-up spot, with race-winner the_gunners2004 behind him in third - the_gunners2004's incredible final race performance propelled him from his pre-race position of 8th ahead of the likes of Nath, Cloudjumper, and Tiny_Cos.
Final Standings - 2022 Winter Rally
The Champion of Champions?
ToxicMonkeyMZC joins the likes of Lindy_Lyson, Stormcast, and Storm1968 as one of our exalted URT champions. You can see the full list of former URT, PRC, and other tournament winners here in the forum thread compiled by Prezze. But where does Toxic's time rank when compared to the other Winter Rally champions?
Toxic's final time of 07:46:58.85 was the second-fastest in Winter Rally history, with Hammer's 2020 time of 07:46:23.16 remaining the benchmark.
2019 - Jackpot - 07:47:21.13
2020 - Hammer - 07:46:23.16
2021 - Storm1968 - 07:46:59.18
2022 - ToxicMonkeyMZC - 07:46:58.85
With just 35 seconds separating TM from Hammer's record time, there is a good chance he would've taken the record if he hadn't missed the 7th race at Speedway. Drivers who miss a race are forced to take the slowest time plus a 1% penalty, and TM's resulting time of 10:15.76 was almost exactly 35 seconds slower than Race 7's winning time posted by Bladerunner.
But I doubt he gives two s**ts about that, as after finishing third last year to add to his runner-up spot in the 2017 PRC, ToxicMonkeyMZC has finally won the URT title that has eluded him for so many years. I asked him what he did differently this year compared to his previous tournament setups, and the answer was not a lot!
"Racing has been analysed to death and we all know what cars and mods to use on each track. I didn't change anything... I obviously started racing when it was a new thing. None of us knew how big it would turn out to be. URT win ranks as my best Torn achievement hands down." - ToxicMonkeyMZC
Toxic feels that the URT's qualification phase is unique in that it's often a struggle to enter qualifying races in the first place. He rather modestly believes that his path to the title was smoothed by the absence of top-ranked driver Data, but as we've seen multiple times over the years, a high level of Racing Skill is not the be-all and end-all.
ToxicMonkeyMZC has been a mainstay of the URT ever since it began. And having finished in 10th, 8th, and 3rd in our previous Winter Rallies, I think the racing community agrees that the URT title was always destined for Toxic's hands one day. Congratulations once more to ToxicMonkeyMZC, our 2022 Winter Rally champion!
The Prizes
First of all, those of you who took part in the URT Prize Races which ran on Sunday can expect to receive your items tomorrow, and we will also be paying out a few small items to those who finished in the top and bottom 10 of the Stormcast Supreme tribute race. Our main tournament drivers will also receive their prizes on this day, with their cash paid out in the form of Church cheques to ensure nobody loses a few million topredatory muggers their fellow drivers.
As reward for his victory, ToxicMonkeyMZC takes home $1 billion in prize money, in addition to a Gold Racing Trophy, the usual ribbons and prizes, and of course, the much-coveted Bugatti Veyron. What will TM do with this rare item? Sell it? Pop it in his display cabinet? Not a chance.
"I think we all know the answer to that :) Tremble ye Speedway and Convict record holders." - ToxicMonkeyMZC
Our second-place driver, Bronx, wins the rare Audi S3, along with $800 million in prize money, the ribbons, and a Silver Racing Trophy. the_gunners2004 wins $650 million, a Racing Coin, the ribbons, and a Bronze Racing Trophy. A full list of the prizes paid out to our final 48 drivers can be seen on the official results spreadsheet.
In addition to the placement-based payouts, we've picked one driver to receive a further payment of $100 million in recognition of their talents. Or have we? The Soybean award is given to a driver whose final position exceeds their tournament ranking considerably, with racers under or around 20 RS typically considered for this prestigious prize. Previous winners include Brainslug, Tarun, selits, and Excomantia.
This year, we saw two drivers finish in the middle of the pack who we simply couldn't separate. First up, TheWhiteBunny, whose RS of 21 meant she was ranked 37th going into the competition, but managed to finish 17 places above that in 20th. Her most impressive result was a 3rd-place finish at Commerce, with her average placement being 22nd across all races, and her final time only 2 minutes 34 seconds off top spot.
Our second Soybean winner is Rasselbock, an 18 RS driver who ranked 42nd going into the tournament, but who finished in 24th-place with a deficit of 2 minutes 45 seconds to the leader. Rasselbock's best result by far came with a 2nd-place finish at Industrial, but they also achieved a highly credible 6tth at withdrawal too. Their average placement was 25th.
Both of these drivers finished ahead of drivers with far more experience and racing skill, and so each of them will receive the full award of $100 million each - the URT is flush, we have no need to split prizes. Congratulations to TheWhiteBunny and Rasselbock, we hope to see you back again to build on these results in future editions of the URT.
Thank You
This year's Ultimate Racing Tournament was the biggest yet, and the only reason we're able to keep saying this year-on-year is that the dedication and hard work of the racing community allows us to keep expanding. Our Winter Rally stewards ran more qualifiers than ever before this year, with at least 46 running every day for four days back in mid-January - we occasionally ran a few more if someone f***ed up.
But such errors were few and far between, with both our experienced and novice stewards helping to ensure that everything ran smoothly throughout the day and night. We had over 2,000 unique players join us for the qualification phase, with this number demonstrating yet again that the thirst for racing is forever growing in Torn City.
"This winter rally has been my first time qualifying for URT, and despite what looks to be a middle of the pack finish for me, it's been a blast. The work that goes into running all of the qualifiers and then the 2+ weeks of the actual tournament itself is pretty striking, and it's impressive to see so many contribute to organize the event. It's been a great experience overall, whether it was tuning in to running commentary on Discord during the races, or watching veteran record-holders encouraging and advising newer racers throughout the event. I've enjoyed my first URT -- and I hope this won't be my last." - Makai
Thank you to all of the stewards who turned up to help out during both the qualification phase, prize races, and the main tournament - this tournament would be impossible to stage without you. I'd also like to add a special thank you to Storm1968, whose constant provision of statistical analysis and race commentary was appreciated by both the competitors and myself.
And finally, thank you to all of those who turned up to give Stormcast the Torn City sendoff he deserved. We had the maximum number of 1,000 racers take part in the one-off Stormcast Supreme race, and while it may have been a total lagfest, as we expected, I feel that the sight of 1,000 players paying their respects down at the race track was nevertheless a fitting tribute to our fallen champion's legacy.
Pictured: In case you're wondering, Chedburn finished in 995th position. What a n00b.
The Ultimate Racing Tournament will return in Summer 2022.
"It feels awesome. This has been my prime Torn objective for years now. Now I have to get the Audi." - ToxicMonkeyMZC, URT Winter Rally 2022 Champion
ToxicMonkeyMZC finished third in last year's Winter Rally, having gone into the final race in second with the title very much in his sights. However, as race fans remember well, Storm1968 overhauled a 30-second deficit to take the 2021 Winter title in the very last race. But this year, there was no final race drama, and no heartbreak for Toxic either, with our newly-crowned champion well-deserving of his title after leading the rally for the final four races.
URT Summer 2020 champion Bronx took second place, with Winter 2019 runner-up the_gunners2004 sneaking into third thanks to a fine victory in the final race. Read on to find out how Toxic secured his title, what he's won, who takes home the Soybean award, and when all those Prize Race prizes will be paid out!
Toxic Takes The Title
ToxicMonkeyMZC's campaign began in average fashion with a 23rd-place finish at Convict followed by a 15th-place at Mudpit. But TM soon began to show the kind of consistency expected of an experienced driver with back-to-back top-ten finishes at Hammerhead and Withdrawal. He followed this up with a disappointing 25th place at Two Islands, but soon got himself back on track with a 2nd place finish at Commerce.
ToxicMonkeyMZC's solid start had him in third place going into the seventh race of the rally, with MIA leading the pack ahead of Hammer in 2nd, and the top eight being separated by less than 20 seconds. But disaster would soon strike for Toxic at Speedway when the URT veteran and this year's top-ranked driver somehow conspired to miss the race entirely.
"As usual I was pretty drunk when the 10pm start came about. I remember I had timed a 100 lap race to finish in time for me to join the competition. I didn't have Torn up on either of my screens and was watching a film which snatched my brain away from reality. I was about 7 minutes too late when I finally came out of my funk. I honestly thought I would have no chance at that point. No excuses for missing the race. I was plastered." - ToxicMonkeyMZC
Pictured: The URT would like to thank ToxicMonkeyMZC for not trying to drive drunk like this guy.
Toxic saw the distance between himself and first triple from 10 to 30 seconds, but he managed to cut that by two seconds with a 7th-place finish at Parkland. TM lost more ground at Industrial, where the_gunners2004 took overall lead of the rally from Bronx, but Toxic clawed back all this and more at Vector with a 4th-place finish that pushed him up to 6th in the overall standings.
Pictured: Standings after Race 10 courtesy of Storm1968.
A gap of 26 seconds may seem like a lot, but it's the kind of time that can easily be gained back at one of the Winter Rally's long-haul races. The Docks very much falls into that category, with 20 laps around Torn's harbour taking nearly one hour to complete. TM finished in 3rd in this race and managed to cut the distance between himself and the_gunners2004 to just five seconds. TM's rally campaign was alive and kicking once more.
But he wasn't the only one with his eye on the prize. As we pushed on into the final week, our top five drivers were separated by just 16 seconds, and with the remaining races all taking between 20-35 minutes each, there were plenty of gains to be made for those with the talent to take them. Former URT champions Bronx and Hammer were among TM's rivals for top spot, and with high RS drivers like Nath and the_gunners2004 also looking in good form, it was anyone's guess as to where the title would be heading this year.
TM lost a small amount of time at Meltdown as the rally gained a new leader in the form of Cloudjumper, but Toxic's third-place at Uptown saw him overtake both CJ and Bronx to take the lead in the rally for the first time. His lead of 3 seconds was increased to 13 seconds at Uptown with an 8th-place finish, and Toxic held his nerve in the penultimate race at Sewage by finishing 4th to extend his lead further.
With TM having led the competition since race 13, some may have thought that the result of the Winter Rally was a foregone conclusion, especially as Toxic now held a lead of nearly sixteen seconds going into the final race. But there are no certainties in the Ultimate Racing Tournament, and our leader was made well aware of this after a disastrous start at Stone Park left him scrambling among the backmarkers.
Pictured: TM in 44th out of 47 drivers after 4 laps.
Toxic was as low as 44th by lap four, but one lap later he cut through the competition to push into the 30's. TM got stuck in the middle of the pack throughout the next few laps, but by lap 10 he was challenging for a spot in the top 20. However, with this being a rally format, the only thing that matters is your time compared to your rivals, and as the first drivers hit the halfway mark, TM found himself roughly three seconds behind his main rival Bronx, with Bronx needing to extend this by 13 seconds if he was to become the first driver to win both the Summer and Winter URT titles.
It was the_gunners2004 who led the race at this stage, but it was a big ask for them to challenge for the title, as they needed to end the race with a lead of more than a minute over TM to stand any chance at all. Cloudjumper and Nath were the only drivers besides TM and Bronx who were in with a chance of victory, but with those two needing to overhaul TM by 30-40 seconds each, and neither driver troubling the top spots midway through the Stone Park race, it looked like the final was a straight fight between Bronx and ToxicMonkeyMZC.
"That last race was terrifying, I'm pretty sure Bronx was ahead a couple of times and could easily have beaten me, I was very lucky." - ToxicMonkeyMZC
Bronx did his best as the race went on, and when he started to mix it with the frontrunners while TM fell back into the 30's, it looked like we could have yet another final day shock on our hands. But in the end, ToxicMonkeyMZC's lead was just too great to overcome, and when Bronx finished the race in 10th with a time of 26:35.04, he only had to look in his rearview mirror to realise that his title hopes were over.
ToxicMonkeyMZC finished the Stone Park final in 13th with a time of 26:36.79, just under 2 seconds slower than Bronx, a result which meant he ended the Winter Rally with an overall lead of 14.13 seconds. Bronx's 10th-place finish was enough to give him the runner-up spot, with race-winner the_gunners2004 behind him in third - the_gunners2004's incredible final race performance propelled him from his pre-race position of 8th ahead of the likes of Nath, Cloudjumper, and Tiny_Cos.
Final Standings - 2022 Winter Rally
The Champion of Champions?
ToxicMonkeyMZC joins the likes of Lindy_Lyson, Stormcast, and Storm1968 as one of our exalted URT champions. You can see the full list of former URT, PRC, and other tournament winners here in the forum thread compiled by Prezze. But where does Toxic's time rank when compared to the other Winter Rally champions?
Toxic's final time of 07:46:58.85 was the second-fastest in Winter Rally history, with Hammer's 2020 time of 07:46:23.16 remaining the benchmark.
2019 - Jackpot - 07:47:21.13
2020 - Hammer - 07:46:23.16
2021 - Storm1968 - 07:46:59.18
2022 - ToxicMonkeyMZC - 07:46:58.85
With just 35 seconds separating TM from Hammer's record time, there is a good chance he would've taken the record if he hadn't missed the 7th race at Speedway. Drivers who miss a race are forced to take the slowest time plus a 1% penalty, and TM's resulting time of 10:15.76 was almost exactly 35 seconds slower than Race 7's winning time posted by Bladerunner.
But I doubt he gives two s**ts about that, as after finishing third last year to add to his runner-up spot in the 2017 PRC, ToxicMonkeyMZC has finally won the URT title that has eluded him for so many years. I asked him what he did differently this year compared to his previous tournament setups, and the answer was not a lot!
"Racing has been analysed to death and we all know what cars and mods to use on each track. I didn't change anything... I obviously started racing when it was a new thing. None of us knew how big it would turn out to be. URT win ranks as my best Torn achievement hands down." - ToxicMonkeyMZC
Toxic feels that the URT's qualification phase is unique in that it's often a struggle to enter qualifying races in the first place. He rather modestly believes that his path to the title was smoothed by the absence of top-ranked driver Data, but as we've seen multiple times over the years, a high level of Racing Skill is not the be-all and end-all.
ToxicMonkeyMZC has been a mainstay of the URT ever since it began. And having finished in 10th, 8th, and 3rd in our previous Winter Rallies, I think the racing community agrees that the URT title was always destined for Toxic's hands one day. Congratulations once more to ToxicMonkeyMZC, our 2022 Winter Rally champion!
The Prizes
First of all, those of you who took part in the URT Prize Races which ran on Sunday can expect to receive your items tomorrow, and we will also be paying out a few small items to those who finished in the top and bottom 10 of the Stormcast Supreme tribute race. Our main tournament drivers will also receive their prizes on this day, with their cash paid out in the form of Church cheques to ensure nobody loses a few million to
As reward for his victory, ToxicMonkeyMZC takes home $1 billion in prize money, in addition to a Gold Racing Trophy, the usual ribbons and prizes, and of course, the much-coveted Bugatti Veyron. What will TM do with this rare item? Sell it? Pop it in his display cabinet? Not a chance.
"I think we all know the answer to that :) Tremble ye Speedway and Convict record holders." - ToxicMonkeyMZC
Our second-place driver, Bronx, wins the rare Audi S3, along with $800 million in prize money, the ribbons, and a Silver Racing Trophy. the_gunners2004 wins $650 million, a Racing Coin, the ribbons, and a Bronze Racing Trophy. A full list of the prizes paid out to our final 48 drivers can be seen on the official results spreadsheet.
In addition to the placement-based payouts, we've picked one driver to receive a further payment of $100 million in recognition of their talents. Or have we? The Soybean award is given to a driver whose final position exceeds their tournament ranking considerably, with racers under or around 20 RS typically considered for this prestigious prize. Previous winners include Brainslug, Tarun, selits, and Excomantia.
This year, we saw two drivers finish in the middle of the pack who we simply couldn't separate. First up, TheWhiteBunny, whose RS of 21 meant she was ranked 37th going into the competition, but managed to finish 17 places above that in 20th. Her most impressive result was a 3rd-place finish at Commerce, with her average placement being 22nd across all races, and her final time only 2 minutes 34 seconds off top spot.
Our second Soybean winner is Rasselbock, an 18 RS driver who ranked 42nd going into the tournament, but who finished in 24th-place with a deficit of 2 minutes 45 seconds to the leader. Rasselbock's best result by far came with a 2nd-place finish at Industrial, but they also achieved a highly credible 6tth at withdrawal too. Their average placement was 25th.
Both of these drivers finished ahead of drivers with far more experience and racing skill, and so each of them will receive the full award of $100 million each - the URT is flush, we have no need to split prizes. Congratulations to TheWhiteBunny and Rasselbock, we hope to see you back again to build on these results in future editions of the URT.
Thank You
This year's Ultimate Racing Tournament was the biggest yet, and the only reason we're able to keep saying this year-on-year is that the dedication and hard work of the racing community allows us to keep expanding. Our Winter Rally stewards ran more qualifiers than ever before this year, with at least 46 running every day for four days back in mid-January - we occasionally ran a few more if someone f***ed up.
But such errors were few and far between, with both our experienced and novice stewards helping to ensure that everything ran smoothly throughout the day and night. We had over 2,000 unique players join us for the qualification phase, with this number demonstrating yet again that the thirst for racing is forever growing in Torn City.
"This winter rally has been my first time qualifying for URT, and despite what looks to be a middle of the pack finish for me, it's been a blast. The work that goes into running all of the qualifiers and then the 2+ weeks of the actual tournament itself is pretty striking, and it's impressive to see so many contribute to organize the event. It's been a great experience overall, whether it was tuning in to running commentary on Discord during the races, or watching veteran record-holders encouraging and advising newer racers throughout the event. I've enjoyed my first URT -- and I hope this won't be my last." - Makai
Thank you to all of the stewards who turned up to help out during both the qualification phase, prize races, and the main tournament - this tournament would be impossible to stage without you. I'd also like to add a special thank you to Storm1968, whose constant provision of statistical analysis and race commentary was appreciated by both the competitors and myself.
And finally, thank you to all of those who turned up to give Stormcast the Torn City sendoff he deserved. We had the maximum number of 1,000 racers take part in the one-off Stormcast Supreme race, and while it may have been a total lagfest, as we expected, I feel that the sight of 1,000 players paying their respects down at the race track was nevertheless a fitting tribute to our fallen champion's legacy.
Pictured: In case you're wondering, Chedburn finished in 995th position. What a n00b.
The Ultimate Racing Tournament will return in Summer 2022.
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