David O'Reilly
A bad quali means I can go forwards in the race.
League: Virtual World Series by Renault Formula Renault 3.5.
Season: 4 (2014)Introduction
Edits 27/8/2014 in purple
We are pleased to announce the 4th season of the Virtual World Series by Renault at Race Department.
This thread will give you the details and to allow for any question or concerns to be answered.
Signups will begin today. Please use the separate signup thread so that they are not lost in amongst various questions and answers here.
We have made a note below of those drivers who have indicated interest.
After the success of our first two V-WSR seasons with the Clio's and the Meganes, we ran the inaugural FR 3.5 season with the 2010 spec car. We are now using the faster and more popular 2014 spec car complete with more power and DRS. Its been a popular car in the Club Races and produced some great and close racing. Most people find it superior in every way to the 2010 car. We are also exploring the depth of RF2 by adding the element of Weather (not rain) and introducing the excitement ofa 2 car Team Championship.
Please note: With a maximum grid of 24 cars there is the very real chance this league may be oversubscribed. For that reason we ask that you only sign up if you are confident that you can attend all the races. If you are not then we ask that you sign up as a reserve.
The Formula Renault 3.5 is often the final stepping stone before F1. In real life it creates very close racing with the premium being on driver talent and engineering set-up as the cars are identical. It's the same here.
The League is open to any licensed RD member to fight for the Driver Championship. We are also running an exciting Team or “Constructors” Championship (WCC) which due to its design (*see below) should mean the WCC “goes down to the wire”.
The championship will be held at 6 different venues over 12 weeks with back to back races, and a reversed grid for the second race based on the end results of the first race, for the first 10.
General Information
CALENDAR
Mod and DRS test - Fuji date TBA but soon.....Done
Test 1: Sun 21 Sept and Driver Ranking. Circuit of the America's GP-......DONE
Test 2 : Sun 28 Sept and Driver Ranking. Hockenheim GP... DONE.
Round 1: Sun 12 Oct. Spa Franchorchamps Belgian GP League...DONE
Round 2: Sun 26 Oct Gulf Air Bahrain GP 2013...DONE
Round 3: Sun 9 Nov Monza.
Round 4: Sun 23 Nov Malaysia GP
Round 5: Sun 7 Dec Suzuka 2008
Round 6: Sun 21 Silverstone GP NB 60minute Race. 1.5 normal Race 1 Points
Sim Required: RFactor 2
Car: Formula Renault 3.5 2014.
All setup options will remain available during the sessions.
Edit 26/9/2014 We will now most probably go with "Parc Ferme".Check the race thread carefully.
Assists Auto Clutch only
Race Distance Race 1 45 mins. Race 2 30 mins (reverse grid earns 1/2 points).
Tracks: a voting thread joins the signup thread..
Weather Variable (most probably based on real life forecasts minus the rain as we accept that the FR 3.5 is virually undriveable inthe wet).
Points System as per Formula 1.Race 2 earns 1/2 points. CANCELLED.
1/9/2014 NB edit: As we appear to have full grids of 24 cars a decision has been made to revert to the standard RD points allocation below. It will offer a greater chance to "get into the points" for #2 drivers and should make for a close WCC. No fastest lap or pole points will be allocated as those dudes are the last one to need bonus points.
P1 - 20
P2 - 17
P3 - 15
P4 - 13
P5 - 11
P6 - 10
P7 - 9
P8 - 8
P9 - 7
P10 – 6
P11 – 5
P12 – 4
P13 – 3
P14 – 2
P15 – 1
Drivers Championship and Constructors (or Team ) Championship. See information below*
Grid size: Max 24 cars or 12 Constructor teams. If the grid is oversubscribed the sign ups will be dealt with as described below ##.
Races every 2 weeks.
Sunday early evening.
Timings:
Practice: On race day the server will be open all day to practice
Briefing: 5 - 10 minutes starts 17:15 GMT (only for round1 it's MANDATORY all drivers come, new drivers are MANDATORY to come to the briefing at the first race they enter)
Qualification: 10 minutes in two 5 minute super-pole sessions. 17:30 GMT
Warmup 1: 5 minutes 17:40 GMT
Race 1: 45 minutes 17:45 GMT
Warmup 2: 5 minutes starts at 18:30 GMT
Race 2: 30 minutes. 18:35 GMT. Top 10 based on results from Race 1 will reverse grid positions.
NB: When clocks change for winter the starting times will be set an hour later.
VWSR F3.5 drivers and guest drivers: agree with the RD league Regulations 2014
VWSR F3.5 drivers:
- Those who signed up already and have participated in 1 of the 2 test races will be allocated to a team and considered as a WCC drivers.
- The WCC drivers will be tagged in the round sign-up threads. They need to sign-up or give their absence 48h before official practice. We don't need to know why, just if.
Signed up Reserve / Guest Drivers
Will have the first option on an empty seat. Once a round has been driven the driver will be tagged in the round thread.
Casual Guest drivers:
Will have the next option
- Everybody (with a RD license) else who wants to join a round, can do so as a guest driver. However this is a championship season, so please be aware of RD League Regs section 3.3 dealing with practice,pace and control of the car. If you can drive it clean, safe and courteous you are welcome.
- If they sign up the next round again: They will be considered as a VWSR F3.5 driver and will be tagged in the next round.
A driver becomes a full time (WCC) driver when a seat becomes available and he/she is assigned to a team.
The sign-up process:
We need to have full grids, have time to invite reserves, treat them properly and we need to know who is racing for what team before the event. For that reason a clear process is in place.
A thread will be created for the round.
- All intending WCC drivers will sign up.
- At 48 Hours before official practice ANY empty seats will be offered to Signed up Reserve / Guest Drivers then Casual Guest drivers.
- At 24 Hours before official practice any empty seats will be made available to late signups.
Keep organised:Teams are encouraged to be active in seeking reserve drivers. If you know you have an absence get a reserve to sign up using the process above. The process will take precedence over private team plans. IE a casual driver who signs up first will get a seat before “my friend Allen the Alien is coming” type of thing.
#WDC points will only be counted to a WCC (Team) when the driver drives for that team. IE they are not transferable or importable.
Becoming a full time driver. This happens when a team seat becomes available and allocated to you. The main criteria will be attendance and clean racing. The guy/girl who is a regular will get the gig over a newly arrived alien.
*Teams for Constructors Championship. How will it work?
To increase the excitement and give all drivers a focus on winning a championship we have planned the following team creation mechanism.
-Ranking and team creation:
Drivers will be ranked using the data from the practice, qualifying and race sessions in the two practice races. Drivers will have a ranking from #1 to the back of the grid.
As an example in a grid of 20; We will auto-pair pair Driver #1 with #20 then #2 with #19 and so on. The idea is to create very even WCC teams. So in this way you will be auto allocated your team mate. It will look like this.
Team A Driver #1 /Driver #20
Team B Driver #2/ Driver #19
Team C Driver #3/ Driver #18
Team D Driver #4/ Driver #17
Team E Driver #5/ Driver #16
Team F Driver #6/ Driver #15
Team H Driver #7/ Driver #14
Team H Driver #8/ Driver #13
Team I Driver #9/ Driver #12
Team J Driver #10/ Driver #11
You will notice that the team dynamic can be quite interesting as some teams will have a clear #1 driver. He will know that the more he helps develop his #2 driver the greater chance of WCC Victory. Others will have two more evenly matched drivers perhaps wanting to establish themselves as #1.
What if you already have a team mate in mind and want to team up with them?
No problem, a “Drivers Transfer Market” will open to allow mates to join forces but you will spend WCC points to join with a stronger driver than you were allocated. These points will go with the lower ranked driver who is transferred back out. That way a super team will have a points handicap. A weaker team will have a points bonus so, in theory any team could win.
Once you have settled into your team you will choose a specific team car from the Mod and put your teams alt.dds to that car. The Mod we are using will put you both in the same pit garage.
To expand on the above:
Two mates want to enter a team together called team Panda.
They should enter as individual drivers. They will be ranked and auto-paired with someone.
say for eample they end up ad driver #3 and driver #15.
Once the driver transfer market opens they advise the admins that they want to move driver #15 in to team C to replace driver#18.
Driver #18 moves down to team F.
Team C becomes Team Panda. They will bear a Constructors (only) points debit based on a calculation** of the seasons points earnings difference between driver #15 and driver#18.
Team F will get a credit in the same amount.
So Team Panda will start with some minus points. Team F will have some extra points.
The transfer fee will be the difference between the estimated seasons points earnings of the two drivers. **This can only be calculated** with any degree of accuracy once we see what we have got but in essence a ranking will have a seasons total next to it.
Driver #1 may be an alien who is seldom beaten. Over 5 X 2 races that can score he would be expected to take 170 points. (average of 23 points race 1 and 11.5 race 2.
Driver #10 is a mid pack driver who will often get a top 10 but never a podium. He is expected to take 2 points in race 1 and 2 points in race 2 taking advantage of the reverse order. He is worth 20 points.
So as an extreme example if Team J wanted to buy in Driver #1 and swap out driver #10 they would need to pay 150 points.
This rough example would show that one ranking would be worth 15 points.
The formula will be refined and sanity checked once we have a feel for what we have and who's who in the zoo. Its never going to be perfect but it will be better than 2 aliens teaming up and walking the WCC! It can make it fun. But be wary of importing aliens, you will need to deliver!
We did it in Season 1 of the Race Department F1 2011 League. It created teamwork, introduced single drivers to team mates. It kept motivation and sign ups as no one wanted to let down their team mate. We had a very immersive scenario where the #2 drivers were very focussed on beating the other #2 drivers.
Teams can run a reserve driver if someone is absent.
##
Guidelines if we are oversubscribed.
There are only 24 grid slots due to pit restrictions on certain tracks.
We really hope that we only get your sign up if you are happy to commit to enjoying the whole of the (fairly short ) season of 6 races. So please don't sign up if you aren't sure.
That said, in the event of an over subscription we will weigh up factors including
date of sign up, attendance at test events (for driver ranking the test events that follow sign up are compulsory), previous league and club attendance, if needed as a tiebreaker -Premium Membership.
If you are not successful in gaining a full time race seat you are welcome to sign-up to individual races as a reserve. We envisage that up to 4 seats will be available each race for reserves.
We want full grids so full time drivers will need to sign up for each race at least 48 hours before. Then at 24 hours before the race any vacant slots will be filled with reserves.
In this way reserves will get a drive and any no shows will not diminish the racing.
If a driver fails to attend a race without a valid reason his seat may be given to a reserve.
Frequently asked questions:
I'm not a premium member, can I race?
Yes sign ups are open to all licensed RD members. Only if oversubscribed will a premium member take priority and then only if all other qualification criteria are equal.
Do I have to complete the test events?
Yes, Once sign ups are done, team creation is based on performance in these test events. They are also used to monitor and communicate expectations of on track behaviour. They are also used to check who will show up in the season proper.
What if I don't have an RD license?
Yes, you can apply for a free RD License on the bottom of the home page. If the test events are completed without drama you can race. However priority would be given to existing license holders in the event of over subscription.
Why is the second race reverse order and ½ points?
Its fun, mixes it up and gives midfield racers a chance to beat the stars. Its ½ points due to the advantage given by the reversed grid.
What if I have damage or bad luck such as a penalty in one race is my season ruined?
Only 5 results from the 6 races count. This will give you one “get out of jail card”.
What about contact? How clean am I required to race?
Race Department has high expectations of clean, no contact racing. Drivers are expected to create a passing opportunity through pace pressure and skill. Biff and barge style racing is not tolerated. Contact that impacts another drivers race will be penalised. Forcing a gap with contact is also not tolerated.
What if I cant attend a round?
The 5 of 6 points rule is partly there to allow for real world commitments. So you can miss a race and stay in contention for the championship. You need to advise non attendance on the sign up thread. Otherwise it will count as a no-show and your race seat will be forfeited.
Must I sign up for each round?
Yes you need to sign up (or advise non attendance) 48 hours before the race as organisers need to know who will be there to invite reserves to fill empty seats. One team member can sign up for both drivers.
Do I have to race with my allocated team mate?
No, you can form a team with a friend. The team will pay or be credited WCC points based on the “Drivers Transfer Market”.The Drivers Championship points (WDC) are not affected.
What will happen to my teams points if another driver fills my seat for a round?
As in real life the team will keep the best 5 rounds for each chassis. Regardless of who scores them.
NOTICE BOARD
To avoid having to search mutiple threads for key information this bottom part of the information thread will be used as a notice board. Any time bound critical info will be found here.- 27/08/2014: Calendar is set, Signups and track voting is open.
- 28/8/2014: We have 23 drivers signed up at this stage. Please dont be dissauded from siging up. Without any disrespect to anyone, in my experience of 5 seasons of RD racing leagues there are usually one or two or three that don't getto the grid for race 1. Then there are some who don't make race 2. There are also ppl who will not be available for certain races. So my guess would be that for example signup #26 or #27 will most probably get plenty of races.
- 29/08/2014:
Skins: We will most probably use the in game skin sharing system so please keep a small file size version of the skin. I think its 5mb so 2048x 2048. Bigger files wont load in the lobby. When you attend you first race with your skin make sure you hang around in your pit box when evryone is there. Thats when your skin gets transferred to the other drivers files.
Race numbers: We are flexible on this. If there is a race # you want on your skin just let me know and Ill do a list here. #1 is for our reigning WDC Dino Paolni, #12 is for me. All others are 1st come 1st served. Any number you want EG Bottas liked #77.
Tracks: We will shut down the vote now. I have had to adjust it slightly as a passer- by decided to vote but didnt sign up(-thats politics for you). I have deducted his votes.
Results (so our tracks) are:
Spa Francorchamps 18
Silverstone 18
Sepang-Malaysia 17
Suzuka 16
Monza 14
Bahrain 14
Circuit of the Americas 13
Hockenheim 13
Newerburg GP Circuit 12
We have been alerted to a potential issue with Spa. We will keep you informed.
Shakedown Race: Mon 1/9/2014 This is to test the mod , DRS, Garages, recon lap etc. Its not compulsory but nice if you can make it on Monday.
http://www.racedepartment.com/threads/f3-5-2014-fuji-2012-drs-mon-1st-sept.92132/
NOTICE 1/9/2014
Rules and Signup Process have been inserted into general info above.Points allocation amended. We are shifting from F1 points to standard RD points allocation. Please see points in main text above.
VWSR F3.5 drivers and guest drivers: agree with the RD league Regulations 2014
VWSR F3.5 drivers:
- Those who signed up already and have participated in 1 of the 2 test races will be allocated to a team and considered as a WCC drivers.
- The WCC drivers will be tagged in the round sign-up threads. They need to sign-up or give their absence 48h before official practice. We don't need to know why, just if.
Signed up Reserve / Guest Drivers
Will have the first option on an empty seat. Once a round has been driven the driver will be tagged in the round thread.
Casual Guest drivers:
Will have the next option
- Everybody (with a RD license) else who wants to join a round, can do so as a guest driver. However this is a championship season, so please be aware of RD League Regs section 3.3 dealing with practice,pace and control of the car. If you can drive it clean, safe and courteous you are welcome.
- If they sign up the next round again: They will be considered as a VWSR F3.5 driver and will be tagged in the next round.
A driver becomes a full time (WCC) driver when a seat becomes available and he/she is assigned to a team.
The sign-up process:
We need to have full grids, have time to invite reserves, treat them properly and we need to know who is racing for what team before the event. For that reason a clear process is in place.
A thread will be created for the round.
-All intending WCC drivers will sign up.
-At 48 Hours before official practice ANY empty seats will be offered to Signed up Reserve / Guest -Drivers then Casual Guest drivers.
-At 24 Hours before official practice any empty seats will be made available to late signups.
Notes: Both drivers from a team may be signed up by one member (but ensure they are attending).
Keep organised:Teams are encouraged to be active in seeking reserve drivers. If you know you have an absence get a reserve to sign up using the process above. The process will take precedence over private team plans. IE a casual driver who signs up first will get a seat before “my friend Allen the Alien is coming” type of thing.
#WDC points will only be counted to a WCC (Team) when the driver drives for that team. IE they are not transferable or importable.
Becoming a full time driver. This happens when a team seat becomes available and allocated to you. The main criteria will be attendance and clean racing. The guy/girl who is a regular will get the gig over a newly arrived alien.
3/9/2014 Notice
A templete has been created for your cars.The VWSR F3.5 2014 skin template: Download
- Change the car number (send your chosen car number ((only not the skin)) to @David O'Reilly )
- Change the driver name
- Leave the RD and VWSR logo's where they are.
-When you are ready to paint.....
- No obscene pictures or language
- No copy protected pictures, logo's or brand names
- Be creative...
- Use the skin as an "alt"-skin on your assigned car
- Questions: send a PM to @Gijs van Elderen
6th Sept 2014 Notice
Please note that the calendar above has been updated with the circuit names.
Two other points.
1) To make even more it interesting,the final race of the season at Silverstone will be a 60 minute race. Points will be awarded at 150% of the normal for race 1. This means the round will have the same points value but will be earned in one final race. With a tyre change becoming probable it should be fun.
2) The two test events as you know are there for ranking purposes. Please keep some perspective. They are not a world championship or even a qualifying session. No points are awarded. We just need you to show your representative pace in a least one of them to help with team formation. Please show us what you have. We reserve the right to adjust a drivers ranking if we believe he has not run on his merits (as they say in horse racing) so no sandbagging please.
Please note that the calendar above has been updated with the circuit names.
Two other points.
1) To make even more it interesting,the final race of the season at Silverstone will be a 60 minute race. Points will be awarded at 150% of the normal for race 1. This means the round will have the same points value but will be earned in one final race. With a tyre change becoming probable it should be fun.
2) The two test events as you know are there for ranking purposes. Please keep some perspective. They are not a world championship or even a qualifying session. No points are awarded. We just need you to show your representative pace in a least one of them to help with team formation. Please show us what you have. We reserve the right to adjust a drivers ranking if we believe he has not run on his merits (as they say in horse racing) so no sandbagging please.
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