RDHCS - Merged Previous Season Admin Threads

[Bram Hengeveld]

RDHGP S3 - Merged Season Admin Threads

RDHGP 2009 - RaceDepartment Historic Grand Prix 2009

Details: TBA!

 

[Bob Miley]

I like the different cars, ok so this season and last season I picked a car that doesn't suit any of the tracks, but that doesn't mean I don't have fun, it's just a different challenge trying to finish higher than you should. A handicap league would be good, but way too much work for Stu, I think, were there was 1 car that was at least 1 sec per lap slower than the fastest, then the top 3 in race 1 would have to drive that in race 2 and top 3 in race 2 drive it in race 3 etc. Or as we all know who the fast guys are, they are not allowed to drive the fastest car to make it more even. There are all sorts of ways to try and make it equal and closer but you will probably see the same names topping the league no matter what. I am happy to keep it as is knowing full well I never really test all the cars out and usually pick a car based on 1 good race in it or that it looks like not many others will, or lucky dip.

 

[Dmytro Botnarenko]

I will stay with a tight, but not overly complicated, short length / high lapcount track so the balance of the season remains as it was.
And you all know what that means...Scandinavia, baby!

Oh no! Not only Anderstorp!

 

[Tim Ling]

I like the different cars, ok so this season and last season I picked a car that doesn't suit any of the tracks, but that doesn't mean I don't have fun, it's just a different challenge trying to finish higher than you should. A handicap league would be good, but way too much work for Stu, I think, were there was 1 car that was at least 1 sec per lap slower than the fastest, then the top 3 in race 1 would have to drive that in race 2 and top 3 in race 2 drive it in race 3 etc. Or as we all know who the fast guys are, they are not allowed to drive the fastest car to make it more even. There are all sorts of ways to try and make it equal and closer but you will probably see the same names topping the league no matter what. I am happy to keep it as is knowing full well I never really test all the cars out and usually pick a car based on 1 good race in it or that it looks like not many others will, or lucky dip.

I vote we give Ross a tuk tuk

And maybe Dymtro and Nils too

 

[Stuart Thomson]

Oh no! Not only Anderstorp!

Correct!

Not Anderstorp!

 

[Senad Subasic]

I think I know, but I hope I don't :eek:
Knutstorp

 

[Ross McGregor]

If i'm driving it that couple in the back better hang on for dear life! Lots of experience of being a white van man you see...

I vote we give Ross a tuk tuk

And maybe Dymtro and Nils too

I'm not bothered about single make/multiple make championships, although i prefer single makes as it's then all down to the driver & setup. Like Neil though, i ran in a GTL league elsewhere and everyone had to use a different car for every race which made for some mixed-up grids and good racing. However, it's likely that most people would end up picking the same car for every event based on the requirements of the track. (not always a clear-cut decision unless you do lots of practice though) Basically i'm happy with anything.

 

[Tim Ling]

I think a simple weighted league would work well, like the Boss 302 & (the other American muscle car mod that I forget the name of :oops, and the slower people get the Boss.

Alternatively, and this is a radical idea, the aliens among us could deliberately choose slower/lesser cars in the group. We have a LOT of Elites in RDHGP S8, many driven by drivers who are consistently faster, sometimes 4 or 5 seconds faster. If they had chosen the Jaaaag, it would have made it harder for those guys to achieve that constant level of supremacy. I would imagine that winning each race by a large margin gets boring after a while...unless your name is Schumacher or Vettel. The aliens among us would still be at the top, but surely the closer racing would be more enjoyable?

 

[Predrag Drobac]

At last someone who can understand me.

 

[Ross McGregor]

I think tim's first suggestion is unworkable for those mods as you'd have to define some sort of cut-off point for issuing cars. Ie: who gets what car, and will the guys in the 'middleground' have a big advantage/disadvantage? The cougar is around 4s a lap slower than the boss, so thats a big difference. As for your second point, if you deny people the chance to choose their favourite cars then it may put them off participating altogether. And who says the elite is the fastest car anyway?!

 

[Stuart Thomson]

OK - let me be as definitive as possible, and before I do, please be clear that I'm not singling anyone, or any ideas, out for specific rebuttal, ridicule or anything else with negative connotations - these are just my opinions:

1. I'm planning Season 9, so I'd like to hope that that number alone suggests that it's working OK as is, and that you lot trust me to do the very best I can to get things as fair as possible.
2. I'm not going to impose a car choice on people, and especially not for speed handicapping purposes. It would basically be subjective opinions crystalised in an objective framework.
3. If you are forced (by regulation or guilt or whatever) into driving a car you don't enjoy - irrespective of pace - you won't have a good League experience.
4. People so far have been talking about faster drivers choosing slower cars, but there is just as much of an issue going the other way.
5. I agonise over the cars and tracks each season to try and cater for all preferences (which is why the balls up I made last season devastated me) without imposing my own likes/dislikes on anyone. I always try to provide a muscle car, a light pointy car, and a few inbetween.
6. Single make series are a minefield. There will be just as many who hate the idea of driving an all-Boss League (emphasis on League) as there are who love it. The same would be true at the opposite end of the spectrum.
7. Look at the results for this season by vehicle, by and large they are the pretty much the same for each race barring accidents, and the gaps aren't necessarily that close, either. In the same car, the gaps are consistently (Avge diff per lap * lapcount) = Race gap. There are no variables like tyre wear, engine durability, top speed, fuel usage, handling when light etc. that having different cars gives you.
8. Similarly, the multicar League then becomes effectively a series of single races. People will pick the same car based on the track, unless they decide to suffer for a race to keep a better car for a later date. I suspect that would lead to some cheap DNFs which would cheapen the whole concept.
9. In multicar Leagues, if people miss races then it becomes a problem about what car is taken off their inventory.

If people want to do a single make series, like the Boss Series from last year, inbetween League Seasons, then I have no problem with that, and will run one no problem once S8 finishes.

 

[Tim Ling]

I take your points Thommo, and you are correct. The cars this season are very, very close. I blame Rossco and Dmytro for skewing the results . I guess the points raised here must cause you frustration, but I don't think anyone here doubts your ability as league co-ordinator. I'm looking forward to Season 9, as well as the Caterham series, and a Boss series in the future.

 

[Stuart Thomson]

OK - I did some testing last night and got my replacement track choice whittled down to 3 main candidates...None of which were Anderstorp or Knutstorp.

One of the choices, while good quality, I dismissed as too familiar - we'd driven it in a few of these cars fairly recently, and the Club members who drove those races would have pretty huge advantages over the drivers who didn't.

Another, while it looked initially promising, had a couple of overly nasty jagged kerbs that you would avoid on an empty track, but on a crowded track they became real liabilities.

Which left the one I have settled on.

It's short (approx 2.5km), it's in Sweden, it's got a few dips and rises, but nothing excessive...

Any guesses?

 

[Senad Subasic]

Falkenberg's shorter than that I think
It's not Anderstop or Knutstorp, and those are pretty much all Scandinavian tracks I know -> I'm out of guesses

 

[Roland]

my guess would be Karlskoga?
Although I'm not sure there's a GTL version of this track..

 

[Stuart Thomson]

Not Falkenberg, not Karlskoga

I'll announce later tonight once I finish and upload the program cover/event poster, unless someone guesses before then...

 

[Nils Norberg]

cant be anything else then Mantorp

 

[Stuart Thomson]

Not Mantorp.

 

[Stuart Thomson]

Ah.

I owe you an apology, gents - I didn't know that the name on the GTL track is the "alternate" name for the Circuit.

We will be racing Gellerasen, which (I have just found out) actually IS Karlskoga. I only ever knew it by Gellerasen in GPL for the smaller Formulas.So Roland wins the coconut.

http://www.nogripracing.com/details.php?filenr=9460

 

[Stuart Thomson]

2 wins in 3 days, Roland.

No pressure for tonight then...

 

[Stuart Thomson]

As an indication for you, the posted TC65 lap record on the NoGrip hotlaps is a 1:16.5 in an Alfa.

Let's say we're 3 sec slower in race trim, so about a 1:20 lap.

A 40 lap race will last about 54 mins at that pace