The Undercut Racing Manager The war chest and what kills it

Money is the second physics engine. In The Undercut: Racing Manager a fast car with an empty Finance app is a DNF in slow motion. This page documents how the numbers actually work: the budget tiers, the per-GP cash flow, the emergency levers, and the bankruptcy rule that ends careers.

Use it beside sponsors for day-one income and the academy when evaluating whether the Driver Academy cash gate is affordable.

Budget tiers

Starting capital by tier — the same amount every AI team receives:

Tier	Starting cash	Starting reputation
Small	$40,000,000	30
Medium	$60,000,000	50
Large	$90,000,000	70

The big number in the Finance app is current_budget — real cash, green above zero, red below. Under it: Income: +X | Expenses: −Y.

Net per GP

The single most important number in the app. It is the contractual net — what lands every race weekend regardless of results:

net = sponsor_income + supplier_flow − driver_cost − running_cost
      + academy loan fees
      − bank loan installment (while a loan is active)

Prize money is deliberately not in the net figure (it is an estimate). It lives in the projection instead.

Income per GP

Every line here is what actually hits the bank, multipliers included:

sponsor_income = Σ sponsor_effective_money(s)
               × (1 + (marketing_level − 1) × 0.05)      # 1.00 at Lv1 … 1.45 at Lv10
               × sponsor_income_multiplier               # career slider, default 1.575

sponsor_effective_money uses the 0.5.0 variable-income rule:

effective = money × (1 − share) + money × share × (happiness / 100)

where share is 30–50 %, fixed per brand, scaled by the Variable Share slider. An unhappy sponsor is a pay cut, not just a renewal risk.

Partnership Suppliers pay you and take the same Marketing multiplier as sponsor income (1.00 → 1.45).

Pay Drivers bring money in (negative salary_per_gp), shown green in both Income and Expenses — it is counted once.

Academy Loans generate per-GP fees:

fee_per_gp = driver's weighted rating × 600   (PF2)
           = driver's weighted rating × 250   (PF3)

Race prize estimates are labelled est. P4/P9 from your drivers’ current championship positions:

weight_i     = 20 ^ ((n − 1 − i) / (n − 1))            # n = grid size
prize        = race_prize_total × weight_pos / Σ weights
race_prize_total = $2,025,000 (career slider)

Finish	Approximate share	Payout
P1	~12.8 %	~$259,000
P2	~11.2 %	~$227,000
P10	~4.0 %	~$80,000
P24	~0.6 %	~$13,000

Expenses per GP

Drivers — sum of all salaries. A pay driver reduces this line.

Suppliers — one row per category (Engine / Tires / Fuel). Client contracts are costs:

supplier cost = |money_per_gp| × supplier_cost_multiplier      # career slider, default 0.7

Note the asymmetry: positive supplier flow takes the Marketing multiplier; negative flow (what you pay) takes the cost multiplier.

Infrastructure — one line per department: Name (LvN) −$X/GP where X = 50,000 × level (Academy is 150,000 × level).

These per-department rows are printed RAW. The net applies a global infra_running_cost_multiplier (default 0.75). The rows therefore overstate upkeep by about 33 %. Trust Net per GP, not the sum of the rows.

Bank Loan — −$X/GP while active.

Team Value and Ownership

Enterprise value

infra_value   = (sum of all 9 department levels) × $1,800,000
tier_mult     = 0.75 (Small) / 1.0 (Medium) / 1.3 (Large)
rep_mult      = 0.7 + reputation/100 × 0.6                    # 0.70 .. 1.30
results_bonus = championships × $15,000,000 + wins × $700,000
team_value    = max( infra_value × tier_mult × rep_mult + results_bonus , $8,000,000 )

Cash is excluded on purpose — it prevents borrowed money from inflating both share price and loan ceiling.

Sell Shares / Buy Back

cash raised = team_value × pct / 100

Sell in 1 % / 5 % steps. Buy-back costs the same rate.

Dropping below 50 % ownership is GAME OVER — the board removes you with a LOSS OF CONTROL email. The modal warns in red but will let you do it.

The trap: buy-back is priced at the current value. Sell 20 % while broke, then win a championship, and buying those shares back costs far more than you received.

Take Loan

One loan at a time. Reputation sets both ceiling and rate:

max_capital = team_value × (0.25 + reputation/100 × 0.25)     # LTV 25 % .. 50 %
annual_rate = 0.12 − reputation/100 × 0.06                    # 12 % .. 6 %

Interest is flat, not amortising:

total_interest = principal × rate × seasons
installment    = ceil( (principal + total_interest) / (seasons × GPs_per_season) )

Capital adjusts in $1M / $5M steps (or Max); duration is 1–5 seasons. A 5-season loan costs 5× the annual rate in total interest.

Projection

Projects to the end of the real calendar:

projected = budget
          + (net_before_loan + est_race_prizes) × gps_remaining
          − loan_installment × min(loan_gps_left, gps_remaining)
          + championship_prize_estimate                    (if any GPs remain)

Championship prize

weight_i = 8 ^ ((n − 1 − i) / (n − 1))                # n = number of teams
prize    = championship_prize_total × weight_pos / Σ weights
championship_prize_total = $222,750,000 (career slider)

On a 12-team grid: P1 ≈ 19.2 % ≈ $42.8M, P6 ≈ 7.5 % ≈ $16.6M, P12 ≈ 2.4 % ≈ $5.3M. This single payment usually dwarfs a whole season of sponsor income.

The car build line

Pre-season (cars not yet built): −$X against your current budget.

Any other time: −$X against the projected end-of-season budget, using the ~$10.5M recommended rebuild cost. The TV rights package ($12M, default) is credited at the same rollover, so the line adds it back.

Every team re-manufactures its whole car every pre-season. A season ending at +$8M starts the next at −$2.5M before upgrades.

Bankruptcy rule

Three consecutive GPs finished with a negative budget.

• Streak 1 and 2 → financial warning emails counting down.
• Streak 3 → career ends.
• Second loss condition: equity_pct < 50.
• AI bankruptcy retires the team immediately, frees its drivers, and replaces it next season.

One deficit weekend costs nothing but a warning. Three consecutive ones end the run.

Finance habits that keep careers alive

• Do not read the Infrastructure rows as your real upkeep. They overstate by ~33 %. Believe Net per GP.
• Do not treat the projection as guaranteed. It uses current championship positions for prize estimates. Slip three positions and both estimates shrink.
• Do not forget the car build. Every team re-manufactures every pre-season.
• Do not sell equity early and cheap. The price is today’s team value. Buy-back after a title costs multiples of what you raised.
• Do not take a 5-season loan for a 1-season hole. Interest is flat: five seasons costs five years of interest.
• One red GP is fine. Three consecutive red GPs is the end.

Use the pit strategy tool to score the points that fund the operation. Use sponsors to understand income before you negotiate upgrades.