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July 05, 2013

 

Growing team introduces new initiative to further merge the lines between real racing and sim-racing.
The rookie team Wauters Automotive will be paying a small bonus per championship point scored to its drivers in a digital currency called 'bitcoin'. With this action, team boss Andreas Wauters hopes to reward his drivers for good performances and push for a top 6 in the FC Constructors' Championship by stimulating a practice driven environment for the whole team.

As a positive side effect, he also hopes people will get interested in the revolutionary new currency, which he deems to be interesting as an alternative kind of money for the new internet generation. Each driver will be awarded a small sum of 0.5 mBTC or 1/2000th of a Bitcoin per point. The current value of this sum comes down to about 0,04 in today's marketplace; it is therefore more of a kind gesture than a real wage necessarily.

Team boss Wauters talks about his decision.
"For me, rewards for good performances are very important. After all, it's the hunger for 'achievement' that drives competitiveness in the first place. Trophies, medals, prize-money and even written down results on a Wikipedia page are all tokens that help feed this desire in one way or another. With this initiative, i'm trying to encourage a positive and competitive environment in the team. It's by no means my intention to make my drivers earn large amounts of money by driving, nor do I have the funds for such an engagement. I just want to give them a thumbs up for their hard work. Although the rewards are small, they are substantial enough to gather a small budget that could subsidize a fresh and tasty victory-pint at the end of the season. Mike for example has already gathered enough points in the first half of his season to buy two reasonably priced beers. Finding a pub that accepts Bitcoin is definitely on our checklist for the GPVWC day in Amsterdam this November! If we find one, it's certainly gonna be an occasion we won't forget any time soon."

The Wauters Automotive drivers are quite happy with the program as well.

FC Driver Mike Schroten
"I was exited when I first heard about Andreas' plan. You will not earn much, but it is nice to be rewarded when you finish on a good position."

FC Driver Daniel Leek:
"Bitcoin looks like a user-friendly program to exchange the currency bitcoin. It gives a bit of excitement knowing you invested in something which can peak with its value. If it even gets more popular, the market price of a bitcoin could go up! Because of the anonymous exchanging of the bitcoin, it seems like a reliable and safe way to transfer money. Using the bitcoin as price money is at the moment a good idea, since its price isn't high at the moment. It will be like a symbolic way to earn money."

WGT Driver Nico De Koninck:
"I believe that this is a great initiative. It's a good way to provide prizes, without asking the drivers for extra fees. It may take some time to set everything up but once everything has been installed, it is easy and fast to use. The bonus is not much, but we surely can appreciate the small things in life."


Be sure to check out the Wauters Automotive Facebook Page, and discuss this new initiative on the forums!