Race Rules:
Although this looks daunting as a list of rules it is not our intention to clamp down on every little bit of contact made. We are here for enjoyment but want it to be fair for all members regardless of ability. Please read the below, especially our reporting system to help our stewards who are giving up there free time to organise and investigate these events.
Incidents:
The following incident categories determine the severity of the incident, based on how much an impact on another drivers race. Our race stewards will use these categories to handle the outcome of the report.
- Minor - Minor incidents are incidents that have little or no impact on the other drivers' race, these will most commonly result in a warning or a minor penalty to the reported driver. Repeated minor incidents may result in a licence point to be carried for the rest of the series.
- Moderate - Moderate incidents are incidents that have directly influenced the outcome of another drivers' race, these may result in points, position penalties or qualifying bans. Repeated major incidents may result in a licence point to be carried for the rest of the series.
- Major Incidents - Major incidents are incidents that impact multiple drivers, could have been avoided or are a blatant disregard to our ethos and may result in a race ban/league ban.
- Extreme Incidents - Extreme incidents are incidents that are blatantly disregarding our ethos, have an attitude of no-fault and no-learning from such incidents and prove that you are not racing to our ethos, these may result in a permanent ban from our community. Any violations not handled in the below rules will be handed on a case by case basis dependant on the situation and the attitude of the parties involved.
Qualification:
During the qualification session each driver is expected to find their own space on the racetrack in order to be able to complete their fast laps. If a car approaching you is on a "hot-lap" and you are not, you must move from the racing line and allow the car to pass without compromising their lap. If a faster car catches you during the session and you are on a "hot-lap" then you are entitled to finish your lap and the faster car will be responsible for making a clean overtake. The better option in this situation would be for the faster car to back off and create a gap for themselves to be able to have another run.
Contact: Simulation racing isn't inherently built to be a contact sport, although with close racing comes sometimes unavoidable accidents. The following rules help to mitigate if such a thing should happen: When a driver has caused another driver to lose a position due to contact or forcing them off track, you MUST give that position back. Drive your car as you would drive a real car on track. Would you send it so blatantly, or move across so quickly if you were in a real race? If the answer is no, then a penalty is likely to be handed out.
Passing:
Defending: To ensure the rules are fair for every driver and to allow for competitive racing, the following rules are in place: Only one defensive move can be made per part of track, with no movement within a braking zone to change line. Pulling in-front of a car just before the braking zone and slamming on the brakes (Brake Checking) is deemed unsafe. Any accident caused by this will the leading drivers' fault. If a driver moves off the racing line whilst ahead and wishes to re-join the racing line, they must leave a cars width from the edge of the track.
Attacking: To ensure that defenders know what to expect, the following rules are in place for battling cars. (Only applied to cars fighting for position). If there are multiple cars wide around a corner, all drivers must drive the corner with enough room for all cars to get around. Any line deviation causing an accident will be looked into on a case by case basis. Any accidents caused by turning in, bumping, or extending and crossing into the other driver is entirely the car who made the move's fault. Drivers who are not alongside the car in front by the time the end of the braking zone is over, are deemed "dive-bombers" and any forceful entry onto the apex by the car behind is entirely at fault. Furthermore any moves either setup or completed by not respecting the track limit boundaries will be investigated if brought to the stewards attention. We would expect drivers in these situations to either back out of the move or if already completed to allow the driver behind back through within 1 lap.
Blue flags: if the race is single class or single spec, blue flags are to be adhered to. It is reasonable and fair to expect someone to let the faster car through in a convenient and safe manner, therefore patience may be required from the faster car depending on circuit. There is an element of judgement required from both the slower and faster car, any blocking moves can result in a stewards investigation and potential penalty. Hold your line and simply lift a little when its possible. If 2 cars racing are being lapped then this becomes more tricky, but the rules still apply.
Track Limits: The track limits will be handled normally via the in game system, however if a driver is reported to the stewards accused of cheating the system and gained a major advantage by cutting the circuit to either attack or defend a position, then this will be investigated and further penalties may be applied.
Reporting and Stewarding: We will be introducing a live stewarding team for as many rounds of the series as possible. They will be anonymous and have the final decision on any incidents seen during a race evening. Any further Incidents that need investigating must be reported via the incident ticketing scheme on our discord server. Reports need to contain as much information as possible to help the stewards. I.E Race no, Drivers involved, Turn no, Lap and a brief description of the incident. For balance and fairness every incident will be investigated by 3 impartial judges who have not been involved in any incident or have an interest in the outcomes. All 3 must agree on the outcome of the investigation and will agree upon the penalty. This can range from 5-30 second added to final race time, added to the next race (ACC Series Events only) to a full DQ from the event.
Licence Points: If licence points are issued to a driver, they will be carried for the rest of the racing series or championship. If licence points are issued to a driver for a one-off event, this point may be carried into the next series the driver participates in, these will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. The accumulation of 3 licence points over a 1 series/championship span for any one driver will result in a qualification ban. 5 points will result in a race ban, 6 will result in a series ban.
Championship Scores:
Drivers Championship: The best 6 rounds out of 8 will count to the final scores. Championship points are counted per class position as well as an overall table.
Teams Championship: The Teams championship will use both drivers scores from their respective classes, to give an overall team score. Only the top 2 drivers in each team score if there are more than 2 in a team
