Season 12 - Division 1

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENT TO ALL DRIVERS.

Guys, i have to make a comment on what appears to be a growing trend in our community, and to be honest, it worries me.

Over the last month we have collated the PRE-EXISTING rules that our community had run by over the last 5 or 6 years. We had run by these rules in 13 seasons of GT5, 12 seasons of GT6 and now 6 seasons of PCARS and AC.

That collation included making a few adjustments, as well as implementing the stewards group. This was supposed to make things easier for everyone to understand, and easier for us, as a community, and mod team, to get things sorted quickly and efficiently.

It was NEVER intended to become a way for people to make petty protests, taking up the time of guys on the stewards group.

Rules are rules, i get it......but i have to say i have never protested against someone for a trivial matter, that has NO EFFECT on the race result of me or those i am racing against.

This community has thrived over the last few years, driven by a large number of people looking for the same thing.....clean and competitive racing. The majority of us didn't get involved to look through hours of footage to see if someone 'might' have exceeded track limits a couple of times, 30 seconds up the road !

Its this simple guys.....Everyone is expected to race clean. Being 'racers' we all know what is expected of us on the track.

The rules are there for all to see, in their 'newly collated' glory ! Are they perfect...nope, but show me a race series in the world where after an incident the organizers and racers all get in for a group hug.

I am going to make this request once only.
Before you protest, and ultimately take up the time of people who have other real life commitments, PLEASE ASK YOURSELF, is my protest for a genuine "RACE CHANGING" incident or is it being pedantic, for something that has no bearing on any driver or race results ?

As a mod team, we can't win. On the one hand we are accused of bias, and not being 'professional' enough. On the other hand, we are accused of being too heavy handed in dishing out penalties for 'a game'.

I will uphold your right to protest BAD DRIVING every day of the week. As i have always said, every driver here has the right to drive knowing that those around them will do the best they can to race cleanly. I will also uphold the mod team's right to make decisions in the best interest of the community, without bias or favour.

This is what we (ROOZ) strive for, and we will continue to do so.

Please take a deep breath and reflect on what you want out of ROOZ, and more importantly, how can you contribute to a great community. If your contribution is 'just' to race in the way you are expected then that's ok.......If you want to do more, then even better.

If you don't want to work with the systems used for a combined 30+ seasons and 5 years, then drivers are more than welcome to find what they want elsewhere.

With so many drivers and sponsors we must be doing something right.

Now get on with it.
Stu

R6 : 19th March - Special Stage Route 5 Clubman - 56 LAPS -



TRACK LIMITS : As per our rules and regs drivers must keep 2 wheels on the ripple strips or white lines at all times. We all make a mistake or 2, but if you are caught "continually and obviously" running outside the track limits to gain advantage you will be penalized by the stewards group. LUCKILY the track limits are the walls here!

CONTACT : CONTACT IS TO BE AVOIDED AT ALL TIMES. If you make contact with the car in front, and gain an advantage you MUST REDRESS and give the place back. Failure to do so could result in a penalty from the stewards group.

PASSING : When a car pulls along side you are EXPECTED to give racing room. Contact in being aggressive trying to defend will be looked at, better to give room and continue the fight.

TURN 1 LAP 1 : Dont need to be a rocket scientist to know that you cant win the race in the first corner, but you sure as hell can lose it for yourself and / or ruin another drivers races by either being too aggressive OR too defensive into T1. Use your brains here and give room to those around you. Back half of the grid need to brake a little earlier and not cause chaos with kamikaze passes.

PIT ENTRY / EXIT : Both are straightforward, however DO NOT swerve across the front of other cars on entry. Drivers should try to keep left exiting the final turn for a clean entry into pit lane.
On EXIT, drivers should be aware of fast drivers approaching. Please try to stay left into T1-2 if there is traffic approaching, basically don't swerve right across the road coming out of the pits.
Pit lines WILL NOT be enforced

BLUE FLAGS : Please observe blue flags, and move out of the way of faster cars if you are being lapped. Be aware of the leaders coming up on you, and move out of the way as soon as possible. Best to get off the race line, and with a small lift let them go. Failure to observe blue flags WILL result in a penalty. NEVER battle with the leaders if you are going to be lapped, and if in a battle of your own, LET THE LEADERS THROUGH FIRST before continuing your battle with the other driver(s) for position.

STEWARDS GROUP AND RACE PROTESTS : This season we will be using the new stewards group for racing infringements and protests. Many thanks to the guys who have put their hands up to volunteer. The specific Stewards group thread will have all the info in it, regarding rules and regs, and the protest procedure. Please read it and understand how it works...we are still to link in the collated rules and regs.........You have until 12PM monday night to submit a protest, and 12PM Tuesday night for your evidence to be submitted.
http://www.raceonoz.com/forums/index.php?threads/stewards-group-official-thread.2593/

SAVE YOUR REPLAY ! : Please remember to save your replay after the race. If you want to protest anything, we can only act on the info we have in front of us, failure to do so will not enable us to view things from your game perspective, and with some of the issues we have seen, this could have a massive influence on how the stewards group will view and rule on any incident.

Shamelessly copied from @stucar17 and edited accordingly

Guys, just a very quick reply to my above post....been an interesting few days, with quite a few replies and PMs with a range of views expressed. I am sure you are all sick of hearing from me, but in light of a few discussions i have had after posting i wanted to make a couple of very quick comments.

1. As stated originally, my post WAS NOT directed at anyone in particular. I have had 3 members think it was directed at them, and can i again say that it was a 'general' comment to all drivers.
2. My post WAS NOT intended to offend or upset anyone. If it did, i apologise.
3. While i stand by my comments, in hindsight, i could have perhaps have worded a little differently to make my point, which was, that the time of the stewards group is voluntary, and they were (over the opening 5 rounds) seeming to be dealing with quite a few protests that perhaps didn't need to be made.
4. I will say again, that everyone has the right to protest an incident that they feel has affected the race result.
5. As a mod, i personally don't want to see anyone leave our community. If you have a concern, question or want to discuss something PLEASE send me, or someone on the mod team, a PM so we can discuss in a rational way to come to a solution.

The stewards group for this season has been an interesting exercise, and it has reinforced to me that regardless of the decision made from them, or ultimately, from the appeals group, there is generally 1 person not happy !
All i can ask is that drivers respect their decision (even if you dont agree with it). The difficulty of judging some of the incidents has been evidenced by the difference of opinion even in the stewards group ! It's Not an easy job.

We are a large group of people now, different ages, abilities and personalities.
I think sometimes that gets a little lost with the red mist of race nights.

Again, we want ALL members to have a great experience here, if you feel the need to discuss something please don't hesitate to PM me so we can sort things out for the betterment of everyone. We may not agree, but at least we can have the conversation.

Stu

@JonoStan96 you could start rear of grid and immediately park up... unless quitting the race after it starts still allows you to save replay