RD MINI Challenge 2019

[Bram Hengeveld]

I watched the replay Frank, great one, grats and thank you for sharing. I wonder what was your rear wing value? I don't know whether it is the reason or not by the way but there is a really big difference between our rpm values and gears. For example after the first turn till the second turn, you are increasing to 5th gear all the time. I couldn't increase from 4th to 5th except for drafting sometimes. My car was decreasing rpm while approaching the second turn. I see that it is not about the exit speed of 1st turn since mine was very similar with yours. Your car behaves like it has extra boost

Make sure you have autolift and autoblip disabled. This seems to be significantly faster without these assists

 

[Yetch]

Thanks mate. And great qualifying lap. You deserved the pole.

Scary screenshot. It's a wonder that i slipped through all this wreckage with only a small scratch.

Here's a screen from my view. (Full video footage of my race tomorrow)

I definitively had a lot of luck in this situation. And winning the race even with reversed grid was totally unexpected. I'm very happy about the result .... and i'm still dancing.

Gawd knows why but I endured both races yet again, first pure torture watching ones name tumble down the leaderboard like a diving Sparrow! Then to follow that with my pathetic attempt to outrun you
Well done Frank, deserved brace, at least we should be shot of you for next week!

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

The talk for Oulton Park is open. Server is up as well. See your PM for details.

 

[Murat Erdogdu]

Make sure you have autolift and autoblip disabled. This seems to be significantly faster without these assists

Thank you Bram. I will try it next time. Actually i will try it at Redbull ring to see the difference ☺

 

[BP]

Started practicing from today...Oulton Park is the only track I didn’t know before this series, and I’m barely hanging on in Div. 2!

High 1:59’s are the best I could do...and more than likely I’m at least 5 seconds off everyone else as usual lol

 

[Pappa_G_27]

Started practicing from today...Oulton Park is the only track I didn’t know before this series, and I’m barely hanging on in Div. 2!

High 1:59’s are the best I could do...and more than likely I’m at least 5 seconds off everyone else as usual lol

That's not too bad of a time. I think the time trial record is a 1.57.5, so you may only be a few seconds off.

Man I hate the international version of Oulton though. Those chicanes ruin a perfectly good flowing circuit.

 

[balage06]

Make sure you have autolift and autoblip disabled. This seems to be significantly faster without these assists

Bloody hell, this is why I've been so slow on the straights! I did a clean install before the first round and accidentally left these settings on... Thanks for the info!

 

[Alexsna]

Yep but try to overtake on the classic layout, It doesnt have any good spot to try, Maybe the last corner but its not enought

That's not too bad of a time. I think the time trial record is a 1.57.5, so you may only be a few seconds off.

Man I hate the international version of Oulton though. Those chicanes ruin a perfectly good flowing circuit.

 

[Craig Dunkley]

Started practicing from today...Oulton Park is the only track I didn’t know before this series, and I’m barely hanging on in Div. 2!

High 1:59’s are the best I could do...and more than likely I’m at least 5 seconds off everyone else as usual lol

Do not worry mate I will go before you ..I am holding everybody up and its getting darn heavy ...Honestly I am in it for the experience and loving every minute of it

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

All racing incidents will will be reviewed by an independent group of staff. All incidents will be viewed on their merits, and the decisions made by the stewards will be respected even if you disagree with the outcome.

Submitting a Report
Before submitting a report, please try (if possible) to resolve the matter privately with the parties involved in a friendly manner. If that fails then you can submit a report.

Reports are submitted to @Bram Hengeveld via Personal Message, who will then forward them to the stewards. Reports must be submitted within 24 hours of the conclusion of the race. Please make sure you conform to the procedure and standards that are expected of an incident report. This means,

• Your Name:
• Name of reported driver:
• Round and Lap Number:
• Video Evidence: Must be clear video proof. If you can't be bothered taking the time to record it properly then we won't be bothered reviewing it. Please include multiple angles, viewpoints. Should last approx. 1 minute.
• Written Description: Outline in writing exactly what happened.

Penalties
Point penalties will be the form of penalty handed out post-race.

For racing incidents and contacts, the following are available to be applied post-race.

Sprint Race

• Minor Incident = 5 point penalty
• Moderate Incident = 10 point penalty
• Major Incident = 15 point penalty

Enduro Race

• Minor Incident = 10 point penalty
• Moderate Incident = 20 point penalty
• Major Incident = 30 point penalty

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Round 3 Red Bull Ring
Chris Butcher = 15 point penalty for causing an avoidable collision. Major incident.
Eduardo Garcia = 5 point penalty for causing an avoidable collision. Minor incident.
Ed Sierra = 10 point penalty for causing an avoidable collision. Moderate incident.

 

[Craig Patteson]

Have the standings been updated yet?

 

[Yetch]

Apologies gents but my hair brained idea of upgrading my rig with a triple monitor stand has just evaporated into a pile of rubble lying in the corner of the room. Will have to take my leave of round 4, Oulton Park gutted but with only 24 hours til lights out, I just don't think I'll make it, will bow out now to let a reserve get some practice in. Points allowing I do hope I will see you at Hockenheim. Good luck all!

 

[Anders Myhre]

I know ive used my 1 abdcence, but i sadly lost a good friend of mine today so im not able to even think about racing. Im sorry for the troubles this may cause but i hope you understand.

 

[Ernie]

Well, the season is still running and it's really good fun. So i'd like to thank all who involved in organising this Mini Challenge.

However, it's my first season here. And because of that, i wasn't really aware of one thing, which i would call "very suboptimal". And this is the point system.

Here i'm just quoting Bram and i'll give my honest opinion afterwards.

The starting grids will be defined based on the general classification @balage06. This means people should really avoid a DNF at all times as that is going to costs a lot of points.

First 24 drivers in the GC will be placed into server 1 for round 2 etc.

But it will be extremely hard to promote from server 2 into 1 this year. Somebody has to dominate in server 2 and secure the overlap points to make it into server 1. Unless the aforementioned DNF's happen

The rules are set and Bram has pointed out the difficulty to promote. So my following suggestion is never meant as a change for the current season, but maybe for a possible season 2020.

I think the overlapping points between both divisions are way too little. Speaking of 24 drivers per division. Currently the 22nd place of division 1 is getting the same points as a winner of division 2. I don't want to diminish the performance of a div1-driver, which finishs in 22nd position. But i hope i'm not alone with my estimation, that getting 22nd of 24 drivers in division 1 is much easier than winning in division 2. You could cruise relaxed to last place in division 1, and still score the same points as a podium driver in division 2. Adding 2-3 DNFs and your point score could be even higher.

So in my opinion the current point system isn't fairly balanced, when it comes to more than one division. A division 1 driver has always the advantage to score more points much easier than a division 2 driver.

Well, i have to admit, that i for myself had really underestimated the importance of the pre-qualification. Definitively my own fault. Perhaps due to my inexperience with the series. But with the current point system the pre-qualification (and the determination if you're in div 1 or div 2) has more impact on the whole season than the 5 Rounds itself. This shouldn't be the intention.

Nonetheless, it doesn't change my fun i have in the races. But after 3 wins in division 2 it feels a little bit strange, that i got less points than a div1-driver with 3 (unfortunate) races.
Maybe this is food for thought regarding a possible following season.

cheers
Ernie

 

[Dave Stephenson]

Have the standings been updated yet?

Results pages for the two races have been updated to reflect penalties applied. Standings will follow shortly.

 

[alexSchmurtz]

Updated spotter guides for today. Enjoy your race!

 

[Jopamir]

Absolutely right Frank, I was thinking you would be in Div.1, hands-down, but as you mentioned, it's not possible as it is (or very very hard)
An idea for the FUTURE leagues: the last 10 or 5 positions points of div.1 overlap the first 10 or 5 position points of div.2.
Example: the P15(div1)=P1(div2); P16(div1)=P2(div2);.... on a 10/overlap;
or the P20(div1)=P1(div2); P21(div1)=P2(div2);and so on...on a 5/overlap.
Enjoying immensely this my first league also, so please accept this thoughts as constructive and positive in every way or form.
Cheers

 

[Dave Stephenson]

At the risk of getting shot to pieces for the reasons why, I'll give some insight into how we came to the system we came to. It's a while since we ran a league with promotions/demotions at all and we were in two minds whether to just split at pre-qual and leave it or have promotion and relegation. It does ad some overhead to the administrative side but that's by-the by we accept that will be a thing but the main concern was the amount of friction it has caused amongst drivers in previous series.

In the end we went with it but with the primary concern of ensuring that the top server was fill each week with people who actually have the desire to want to compete consistently and not throw the towel in at the first sign of trouble. We don't particularly like in any event, not just in leagues, when guys get light or moderate damage and choose quit over pit and much prefer to see people stick it out. They inevitably will pick up others later in the race who come into issues and get themselves some more racing later in the race and that's a win for those involved.

This is particularly important with the reverse grid format where quitting early gets you the best possible start in race 2. This is also a key part (though not the only reason) why we don't apply points for percentage finished, with drivers only scoring for crossing the line under chequered flag. The cost is intentionally high.

With that in mind we went with a little overlap to make sure that anyone in the top server who consistently doesn't see races through, especially in the early stages, demotes quickly. We knew it wouldn't be easy without that to get promoted, but we weren't setting out to make it easy to move up, but easy to move down. It was driven primarily by an attempt to instil a particular culture in the field.

I agree the system as it is is not really conducive to promotion on merit unless you are consistently hitting podiums, even in the reverse grid races. It can be done though as has been shown in division one and also by you Frank in division two. You're right on the cusp at the moment and had your first round performance been a little closer to the last two I think you'd be in the top division now.

In the past when we set up to have active promotion and demotion we did indeed stagger the points over the top/bottom five positions and alternate the countdown between the two as referenced in your Jose's post.

This season in the background has also been used as a proving ground for some internal tools we're working on to make the management of such systems easier and faster. Between that reduction in administrative overhead and the general good vibe of the drivers field throughout the season, I'd certainly be more open to seeing more regular promotion/demotion in future editions.

 

[DJ_VsC]

maybe I won't be today