diff --git a/data/gui/options_ui.stkgui b/data/gui/options_ui.stkgui
index 8f96d6377..ce5fca0e1 100644
--- a/data/gui/options_ui.stkgui
+++ b/data/gui/options_ui.stkgui
@@ -39,12 +39,6 @@
             <label height="100%" I18N="In the ui settings" text="Allow STK to connect to the Internet"/>
         </div>
 
-        <div width="75%" height="fit" layout="horizontal-row" >
-            <checkbox id="minimal-racegui"/>
-            <spacer width="20" height="100%" />
-            <label height="100%" I18N="In the ui settings" text="Minimal Race GUI"/>
-        </div>
-
         <spacer height="18" width="4"/>
         
         <!-- ************ LANGUAGE CHOICE ************ -->
diff --git a/src/config/user_config.hpp b/src/config/user_config.hpp
index 824917b9f..3f1d1ddfe 100644
--- a/src/config/user_config.hpp
+++ b/src/config/user_config.hpp
@@ -562,8 +562,6 @@ namespace UserConfigParams
     PARAM_PREFIX BoolUserConfigParam        m_cache_overworld
             PARAM_DEFAULT(  BoolUserConfigParam(true, "cache-overworld") );
 
-    PARAM_PREFIX BoolUserConfigParam        m_minimal_race_gui
-            PARAM_DEFAULT(  BoolUserConfigParam(false, "minimal-race-gui") );
     // TODO : is this used with new code? does it still work?
     PARAM_PREFIX BoolUserConfigParam        m_crashed
             PARAM_DEFAULT(  BoolUserConfigParam(false, "crashed") );
diff --git a/src/states_screens/options_screen_ui.cpp b/src/states_screens/options_screen_ui.cpp
index b10449274..7cc0e7a14 100644
--- a/src/states_screens/options_screen_ui.cpp
+++ b/src/states_screens/options_screen_ui.cpp
@@ -125,14 +125,6 @@ void OptionsScreenUI::init()
     assert( news != NULL );
     news->setState( UserConfigParams::m_internet_status
                                             ==INetworkHttp::IPERM_ALLOWED );
-    CheckBoxWidget* min_gui = getWidget<CheckBoxWidget>("minimal-racegui");
-    assert( min_gui != NULL );
-    min_gui->setState( UserConfigParams::m_minimal_race_gui);
-    if (StateManager::get()->getGameState() == GUIEngine::INGAME_MENU)
-        min_gui->setDeactivated();
-    else
-        min_gui->setActivated();
-
 
     // --- select the right skin in the spinner
     bool currSkinFound = false;
@@ -236,13 +228,6 @@ void OptionsScreenUI::eventCallback(Widget* widget, const std::string& name, con
         // a race condition can be introduced resulting in a crash).
         INetworkHttp::get()->startNetworkThread();
     }
-    else if (name=="minimal-racegui")
-    {
-        CheckBoxWidget* min_gui = getWidget<CheckBoxWidget>("minimal-racegui");
-        assert( min_gui != NULL );
-        UserConfigParams::m_minimal_race_gui =
-            !UserConfigParams::m_minimal_race_gui;
-    }
     else if (name == "language")
     {
         ListWidget* list_widget = getWidget<ListWidget>("language");
diff --git a/src/states_screens/race_gui.cpp b/src/states_screens/race_gui.cpp
index 4eec33065..f7ea23376 100644
--- a/src/states_screens/race_gui.cpp
+++ b/src/states_screens/race_gui.cpp
@@ -64,18 +64,9 @@ RaceGUI::RaceGUI()
     // Marker texture has to be power-of-two for (old) OpenGL compliance
     m_marker_rendered_size  =  2 << ((int) ceil(1.0 + log(32.0 * scaling)));
     m_marker_ai_size        = (int)( 14.0f * scaling);
-    m_marker_player_size    = (int)( 16.0f * scaling);
-    
-    if (UserConfigParams::m_minimal_race_gui)
-    {
-        m_map_width             = (int)(160.0f * scaling);
-        m_map_height            = (int)(160.0f * scaling);
-    }
-    else
-    {
-        m_map_width             = (int)(100.0f * scaling);
-        m_map_height            = (int)(100.0f * scaling);
-    }
+    m_marker_player_size    = (int)( 16.0f * scaling);    
+    m_map_width             = (int)(100.0f * scaling);
+    m_map_height            = (int)(100.0f * scaling);
     m_map_left              = (int)( 10.0f * scaling);
     m_map_bottom            = (int)( 10.0f * scaling);
 
@@ -189,13 +180,8 @@ void RaceGUI::renderGlobal(float dt)
 
     drawGlobalMiniMap();
 
-    if (!m_is_tutorial &&
-        (UserConfigParams::m_minimal_race_gui == false || world->getIdent() == IDENT_STRIKES))
-    {
-        drawGlobalPlayerIcons(m_map_height);
-    }
-    
-    if(world->getTrack()->isSoccer())   drawScores();
+    if (!m_is_tutorial)               drawGlobalPlayerIcons(m_map_height); 
+    if(world->getTrack()->isSoccer()) drawScores();
 }   // renderGlobal
 
 //-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -221,9 +207,7 @@ void RaceGUI::renderPlayerView(const Camera *camera, float dt)
     if(!World::getWorld()->isRacePhase()) return;
 
     drawPowerupIcons    (kart, viewport, scaling);
-    
-    if (UserConfigParams::m_minimal_race_gui == false)
-        drawSpeedAndEnergy  (kart, viewport, scaling);
+    drawSpeedAndEnergy  (kart, viewport, scaling);
 
     if (!m_is_tutorial)
         drawRankLap     (kart, viewport);
diff --git a/src/states_screens/race_gui_base.cpp b/src/states_screens/race_gui_base.cpp
index e08f95bb8..881f2e398 100644
--- a/src/states_screens/race_gui_base.cpp
+++ b/src/states_screens/race_gui_base.cpp
@@ -299,7 +299,6 @@ void RaceGUIBase::drawAllMessages(const AbstractKart* kart,
     // Draw less important messages first, at the very bottom of the screen
     // unimportant messages are skipped in multiplayer, they take too much screen space
     if (race_manager->getNumLocalPlayers() < 2 &&
-        UserConfigParams::m_minimal_race_gui == false &&
         !m_ignore_unimportant_messages)
     {
         for (AllMessageType::const_iterator i = m_messages.begin();