GT3 Budget Cup

ARMED FORCES VIRTUAL RACE CHALLENGE BUDGET GT3 CUP REGULATIONS GOVERNANCE

1. THE ROYAL AIR FORCE MOTOR SPORTS ASSOCIATION with charity number 1181915 will arrange and promote an online eSports championship for the benefit of UK Military personnel and veterans to promote Motor Racing opportunities in the military and provide synthetic training opportunities to competitors – the championship will be known as ‘AFVRC BUDGET GT3 CUP'.

2. AFVRC BUDGET GT3 CUP' is a Championship as defined in this Agreement and will be referred to as ‘the Championship’.

3. The RAF Motor Sports Association promotes the Armed Forces Virtual Race Challenge (AFVRC) championship to promote eMotorsports to the varied UK military community (including veterans). Championship registration is £5 and is limited to 40 participants.

ELIGIBILITY

4. The Championship is open exclusively to members and veterans of the UK Armed Forces. Applications for registrations must be coordinated through the championship Discord channel. The organisers reserve the right to invite celebrities and civilian guests who will bring benefit to the competition and its profile. Foreign military forces, such as US forces may be permitted to enter at the organiser’s discretion.

CONDUCT OF COMPETITORS

5. The Motorsport UK General Regulations apply to this Championship in respect of conduct online and offline as if the Championship was live at a physical venue. Competitors are representing their Service when competing and the highest possible standards of personal and driving conduct are required. All abusive and or disrespectful or bullying behaviour whether within the Championship or in any other media or any social media regarding the Championship by any participant may be investigated against Ethos, Values and Core Standards. Any investigation found to be in breach of these standards will result in automatic disqualification from the Championship.

6. All participants must install the required software, such as Discord and Trading Paints. A comprehensive guide will be provided prior to the first online event. All competitors must be dialled into a dedicated AFVRC voice channel during all qualifying and race sessions. For those competitors who do not wish to communicate during the sessions, ‘quiet’ channels will be provided. Competitors must have recognisable names in Discord to allow the event admin

team to select the correct participants as required.

7. The following guidance has been developed over previous years of AFvRC running:

a. Respect. Please respect that there is a variety of experience and talent across the competitors. Some have real-world race experience, and some have extensive race simulator experience. However, there are some who have neither. Please respect that and take the time to understand who is racing around you so that you can work out who you can race closely with and who you need to give some room to.

b. Etiquette. Recognise when you have been legitimately overtaken, or ‘lost’ a corner to another competitor and focus on getting that place back in a sporting way. As per the sporting code of iRacing, deliberate blocking, crowding of a competitor off the track, or moves that can be considered unsporting (dive-bomb overtakes) are not what the AFVRC is about. If you have a spin, then only rejoin the track when it is safe to do so and in a manner that does not impede those on track. Acknowledging when you have been passed and understanding why will make you a better racer. Please temper any response to an incident and work on the assumption that it was not a deliberate act, until such a time as it can be reviewed. If you make a mistake, then admit as such. Any act of retribution will not be tolerated.

c. Standards. We are showcasing military eMotorsport to a wider and more prominent audience. Although at this stage, this championship is not set to be broadcast in an effort to reduce entry fees, please remember that future AFVRC championships may be broadcast. Don’t quit out of a session because your race has gone bad. If you wish to retire from the race, then do so via the pits. At the end of the race you are required to complete a ‘cool down’ lap and return to your pit box, rather than stopping on track and causing a potential crash. Competitors must ensure that their car has sufficient fuel to return to the pits at the end of the race. 

d. Comms. DO NOT broadcast any chat over the IRacing comms. Utilise the Discord channels. iRacing voice chat will be muted upon qualifying commencing.

e. Spotters - Not all sim setups provide the same level of situational awareness. Some drivers will be racing on a single screen with little to no situational awareness when a car is alongside. To that end, especially for those new to iRacing, you should strongly consider the use of a 'Spotter'. There is a spotter within iRacing, under the 'Sounds' tab, offering a variety of voices that will keep you informed of what is going on, including warnings about cars stopped on track, crashes and most importantly when a car is left or right of you i.e. overlapped, so that you can keep to your side. Other spotter programs exist with one of the popular alternatives being Crew Chief. If you haven't already then please, try one before the next event. Visual aids may also be used such as RaceLabApps or iOverlay. They both contain features that can visually aid you, such as displaying close proximity cars and car relatives.

f. Lapped cars and flashing lights - Whilst flashing the car headlights is widely used in some series to try to distract the driver in front, their principal use is the same as for the road i.e. to warn another road user of your presence. In the case of AFVRC we would only routinely expect headlights to be flashed to indicate to a lapped car that there is a lead car approaching. It remains the responsibility of the overtaking car to pass safely. Lapped cars are not required to leap out of the way (ala F1). Lapped cars should maintain the racing line and remain predictable, only moving over when it is obvious and safe to do so to facilitate the pass. It is far safer for a lapped car to remain on the racing line and lift off the throttle during a straight to facilitate a pass than it is to try to second-guess where the leaders might go and end up both going the same way.

g. Re-joining - A reminder that it is a re-joining car's responsibility to do so safely. If you run wide, then you must ensure that you do not impede on track cars as you re-join. If you spin out and remain on the track, then DO NOT MOVE until you are sure that it is clear and safe to do so. It is very easy in the heat of the moment to try to get going and find yourself in the path of another vehicle and end up ruining their race too. Hold your brakes, check any info you have displayed about cars around you and only move again when you know you are clear.

h. Conduct in the face of crashing cars - Sim racing removes the IRL fear factor of arriving at an incident (as well as the cost) and it is very common to see iRacing official racers gambling on an incident to make places, in many cases not even lifting. The nature of some the chosen tracks could well lead to some incidents, and we implore anyone approaching such an incident to apply caution so that hopefully those arriving on scene might stand a chance of getting through. iRacing is pretty rubbish at Yellow flags for road races, but if we were to apply an IRL logic to such an incident then technically the race would be neutralised in that sector and anyone passing under yellow would be penalised. Please apply a similar respectful logic to our races so unnecessary contact is avoided.

WINNER

11. The overall Championship winner, runner up and 3rd placed driver will receive a TBD sum of iRacing vouchers, paid for / provided by RAFSMA/eMotorsports, utilising a portion of the entry fees. Further details will be made available to the winners as required. Prizes of iRacing vouchers of a TBD sum, will also be awarded to the competitors who achieve the least amount of incident points throughout the season and the most positions gained throughout the season. (Must complete a minimum of 8 races).

STREAMING

15. No competitor is permitted to stream their race activity without prior consent from the AFVRC organisers. If permission is granted, they must ensure that private chat from the AFVRC Discord voice channel is not broadcast.

TECHNICAL

16. The events will be run utilising a fixed high downforce setup, using GT3 vehicles in a single class. These vehicles include:

BMW M4 GT3

Mercedes-AMG GT3 2020

McLaren MP4-12C GT3 (Maximum First 5 Races Only)

Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO

Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)

Ferrari 296 GT3

Audi R8 LMS EVO II GT3

Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R

Ford Mustang GT3

McLaren 720S (Maximum Last 5 Races Only)

 Setup to be used by all competitors will be the iRacing High Downforce Sprint, this allows the adjustment of Traction Control (TC) and Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS) to the driver’s preference as per the car model chosen.

Competitors must use the same model of GT3 for each of the first 5 rounds. They may change their car choice to a different model for the final 5 rounds of the season. (The McLaren MP4-12C will not be an option for the final 5 races.) This is to accommodate the New McLaren 720S. The choice of GT3 will remain open until the commencement of Round 1, FP2.  Changing vehicles during the season, will result in all points being nulled. Accidental selection of the incorrect car for a single race or practice session will be judged by the stewards and penalties may awarded.

 Races will be rolling start for all events.

 Weather and time of day will be pre-set by the organisers. All weather and sim time settings will be pre-determined and are annotated in the calendar listed at item 13.

 Qualifying will be 20 minutes in length and in an open pitlane format, with no restriction on the number of laps.

Races will be 40 minutes in length and fuel capacity will be limited to 50%, enforcing all competitors to make a mandatory fuel stop during the race. A tyre change during this pitstop is not mandatory but can be carried out.

 All competitors will receive 1 ‘fast-repair’ for every race.

 There will be a 17x – Drive Through Penalty and a 25x – Disqualification limit applied for every race. FP1, FP2 & Qualifying will not carry incident limit penalties.

POINTS

17. 2x scores will be dropped and the final Championship total will be the best 8x points

finishes across the season. This is to allow competitors 2 full weeks of absence from the

championship due to shifts/deployments, or low-scoring rounds.

18. Individual Championship points will be awarded to drivers based on their finishing

position as per the following:

1st: 100 points 2nd: 95 points 3rd: 90 points 4th: 86 points 5th: 82 points 6th:

78 points 7th: 74 points 8th: 70 points 9th: 66 points 10th: 62 points 11th: 59

points 12th: 56 points 13th: 53 points 14th: 50 points 15th: 47 points 16th: 44

points 17th: 41 points 18th: 38 points 19th: 35 points 20th: 32 points 21st: 30

points 22nd: 28 points 23rd: 26 points 24th: 24 points 25th: 22 points 26th: 20

points 27th: 18 points 28th: 16 points 29th: 14 points 30th: 12 points 31st: 10

points 32nd: 8 points 33rd: 6 points 34th: 4 points 35th: 2 points 36th-40th: 1

point.

19. An additional point will be awarded for setting the fastest lap of the race; each race

entrant is eligible no matter where they finish.

3rd PARTY SOFTWARE

19. Liveries will be free choice, but respective Single Service branding should be visible.

Commercial liveries showing sponsors, or derivatives thereof will not be allowed without prior

approval from the Organisers. Service or Veteran related logos are permitted.

All liveries will be uploaded to the Google Drive folder made available within the Discord

server and will be vetted before week one, if a suitable livery is not uploaded then the

organisation will provide one. Trading Paints may also be run but may not reflect the correct paint for every competitor.