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V8THUNDER RULES



V8Thunder Rules and Procedures

February 2023 updates in red.

Quick Link to Penalty Points click here

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In these rules reference may be made to the Cup Series or Trophy Series. Both references are made to the Wednesday Night racing series where the single race event counts towards two seperate Championships, the quarterly Trophy Series, and the year long Cup Series.

S1 - RACE ORGANISATION AND PROCEDURES:


1. 'WEEKEND' TIMETABLE:
The start time for V8Thunder sessions is officially 90 minutes before the scheduled start of qualifying. Qualifying starts at 1945 UK time for all series.

For all events, the following schedule will apply:
1815 BST Practice opens.
1945 BST Qualifying starts.
1955 BST approx Happy Hour.
2000 BST approx. Race.


All times are UK time (presently British Winter Time), all drivers must be connected to the server at least 10 minutes before qualifying begins, if not they must start from the rear of the grid.

Drivers are advised to be connected to the server before the start of qualifying in order to take part in the event, although merely connecting to the server during practice and posting a single lap time is often enough to lock in a grid spot, if the server is restarted before qualifying then you will loose the locked in spot if you don't connect again, so it is recommended to be connected to the server before the completion of practice.

The server will not be restarted once Practice is completed.

1.1 GAME FILES:
All drivers must use either an unmodified game exe or one provided by the league where applicable. Any unusual activity, speed or conduct, suspected or proven will result in dismissal from the league. NR2003 game files are provided free to everybody if needed, for rFactor2 events participants will need to purchase the game through Steam.

1.2 LATE ARRIVALS:
Any driver attending practice (joining the server) in the last 10 mins of practice should NOT qualify and must start the race at the back (or where the server places them), failing to do so will result in a post race minor penalty being applied.

1.3 DISCO DURING START PROCEDURE:
Depending upon time, if any driver discoes from the server between the end of Happy Hour and the cars leaving pitlane on the pace lap, a single attempt at a restart will be applied. Anybody who discoes after this first restart will need to rejoin the server and start from the pitlane as no more attempts will be made. Anybody who discoes after the pace car leaves it's pitlane spot on the pace lap will need to rejoin and start from the pitlane. A restart attempt will not be made if the person who disconnects does so manually or discoes multiple times, in this scenario the race start procedure will continue as normal and the driver will need to reconnect to the server and start from the pitlane. The Race Director may at their discretion opt to not restart the race should the person who discoed, had been doing so consistenlty throughout Practice or Happy Hour or if they feel time is of the essence and delaying the start may cause the race to run on late (such for example there has already been a discretionary restart due to a wreck on the opening lap).

2. LICENSES:
All drivers are issued a license, the license grade related to what series the licensee can race in, for 2022 this is:

License Level 1 - Can race in Lites Series only (Friday night Series).
License Level 2 - Can race in Lites and Truck Series (Friday night Series)
License Level 3 - Can race in Truck and Cup series (Wednesday and Friday night series).


2.1 LICENSE PROGRESSION:
All new members will be automatically issued a Level 1 license and must complete two consecutive incident free races in Lites before they will be considered for an upgrade.

Once a driver has been upgraded to a Level 2 license, license progression will be decided by the admin team and applied at season breaks.

The definition of a clean race is not causing an accident either involving yourself or another driver, getting involved in someone else's accident will not be counted against you.

2.2 PARTICIPATION REQUIREMENTS:
Level 3 licenses are limited in number and drivers who do not race for 3 or more races may have their license downgraded to a Level 2 to allow others to progress, if this happens the driver will not automatically be re-instated to their previous license level and may have completed the respective license progression requirements should license slots not be available.

2.3 FAST TRACK SPECIAL DISPENSATION:
The Admin Team reserve the right to fast track license progression at their discretion, in addition, a driver returning to V8Thunder who has raced in the previous year may have their license restored to a higher grade without having to complete the license progression system again should the admin team see fit and license slots are available.

2.4 DEMOTION/DELAYED PROGRESSION:
The admin team may also delay the license progression of a driver if they see fit or demote a driver for obtaining too many penalty points in a season in any series.

3. SERVER PROBLEMS:
If the server crashes or if there is a mass-boot (more than 50% of remaining drivers drop connection at once) then the following procedure will be used.

* If fewer than ½ of race laps have been completed and subsequent running is not possible (i.e. server is down), the race will be rescheduled.

* If fewer than ½ of race laps have been completed and subsequent running is still possible, the race will be restarted. The race length will be no longer than the number of laps remaining at the time of the server problem. The new race will be preceded by five minutes practice, qualifying, and five minutes happy hour.

* If ½ or more laps have been completed the race will not be re-started. If the server replay is available, results will be based on positions at the time of the server problem. If no server replay is available, the race will be rescheduled.

4. FIELD SIZE LIMITS:
Cup/ Trophy field size is capped at a maximum of 30 drivers. This is made up from the 12 Charter Drivers guaranteed slots plus 18 additional slots issued on a first come, first served basis periodically subject to Rule 2.2 and 2.3.

The Inter field size is not limited and no guaranteed slots are issued.

4.1 SIMPLIFI3D CUP PLAYOFF PARTICIPATION REQUIREMENTS:
In order for a driver to be eligibe to qualify for the Simplifi3d Cup Series Playoffs, they must compete in at least 60% of races from the Simplifi3d Cup Series series (at least 16 of the 26 races up to and including Daytona 2 - aka the regular season), failure to meet this requirement will mean the driver forefits their place in the playoffs, they can still race and be eligible for the race to 5th (Harvick Rule) and overall Autumn Series standings, but they will not be able to qualify for the Championship 12/8/4.

4.2 SIMPLIFI3D CUP PRIZE ELIGIBILITY:
In order to be eligible for any end of season prize, a driver must run the SIMPLIFI3D CUP banner and logos on their car as supplied from time to time by the league.

S2 - IN RACE PROCEDURES / ON TRACK CONDUCT.


5. WEATHER:
Lites and Truck Series races will run at 70F Clear, no wind and utilise fixed setups. Cup Series races will run at the actual weather provided by the Network Broadcast in realistic weather mode with a variable of -5/+5 on both temperature and wind, where they do not provide this the information will be taken from Google, where a race doesn't run due to cancellation, our race will still proceed at 70F Clear, no wind.

6. CAUTIONS:
V8 Thunder operates a "no racing back" caution system (as per the 2020 NASCAR rules), when Yellow Flag comes out, ALL drivers should slow in a controlled manner and maintain position. Drivers who slow dramatically when a caution comes out and causes a wreck, without good reason, may receive a penalty. This is considered ungentlemanly conduct as it may cause other drivers to wreck whilst attempting to stay behind. At all tracks in order to save time one caution lap will be removed automatically at the same time the Free Pass Car is announced.

Drivers involved in the accident should rejoin the racing surface safely at a shallow angle as level with the racing surface as possible, do not rejoin at 90 degrees to the track surface - doing so will result in additional penalties if this causes any further contact or damage. Racing for position under yellow will be penalized.

6.1 DRIVERS INVOLVED IN CAUTION:
Any driver involved in a caution MUST NOT attempt to regain their position in the pacing queue and must stay in the position that they rejoin the racing surface even if instructed to do so by their spotter, sometimes if a caution comes out as the accident passes the start/finish line people involved in the cation will be credited with a position they are not entitled to due to being involved in the crash, for the avoidance of doubt if you are involved in the wreck you must maintain position unless the car ahead is severely damaged and off pace and staying behind this car may result in you loosing a lap. The only time where a driver is permitted to regain their position is if the incident happened under RBTL rules and they crashed as they crossed the finish line or shortly thereafter and there is no possibility of a restart (i.e. inside 4 laps to go).

RACING BACK TO THE LINE BEFORE 10 TO GO IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED. Drivers may race back for position inside 10 laps to go only, this is not announced during the race so it is your responsibility to take note of the laps remaining, positions will not be given back if lost due to not racing back.

7. FREE PASS CAR (NASCAR beneficiary rule):
The Free Pass car will be the first car a lap down as per the F2 screen as the pitlane opens - NOT at the time the caution flies. This will be announced by the in-race automation system "Race Control" through text chat, the decision of "Race Control" is final and cannot be appealed, if an in-race admin feels the decision is wrong they may over-rule "Race Control" and award the Free Pass manually, but the original decision will remain therefore in extreme circumstances there may be more than one free pass car eligible.

In the event that the admin is non-racing, or involved in the incident and unable to make it to the start and finish line, the free pass will be announced at the first available opportunity.

8. FREE PASS EXCLUSION:
If the car announced as the Free Pass car, caused the caution, they are ineligible to the Free Pass and it will move to the next car in line. In this event it is the responsibility of the driver to announce this to the in-race admin, failure to do so, and by so taking the Free Pass Car when not entitled to it, will result in a post race penalty. Other drivers should not hold court over who is responsible for the caution, messages such as "13 caused the caution" will be ignored, it is the responsibility of the Free Pass driver to inform the admin whether they were the cause of not.

For the avoidance of doubt, being involved in the caution, i.e. spinning to avoid another car, does not exclude the driver from the free pass, they are only excluded if they caused the yellow themselves.

9. PACING UNDER CAUTION:
Drivers are required to keep a consistent speed under caution and maintain speed within 5mph of pace speed, weaving, accelerating and braking or general unpredictable driving may result in you being penalised post race. The leader must remain within approx. 3 car lengths of the pace car at all times unless pitting. Drivers may stagger their position in the pacing line in order to avoid hitting the car in front if they wish. Drivers must not weave while on pace laps, a minor penalty will apply for each time they do this. Drivers may only exceed the pace speed if catching up to the pack after pitting or taking wavebys. If a driver fails to maintain pace speed for a significant amount of time (i.e. a corner or large percentage of the straight) and drops speed more than 50%, the drivers behind can overtake them and the driver forfeits their position and should not attempt to retake their position in the pacing line. Drivers who are serving End of Line penalties should drop to the apron to allow other cars to pass, they should only slow by 5mph below pace speed and should not slow more or stop on track, only yielding positions as an when cars catch up to them, if a car has not caught up by the middle of the back stretch on the one to go lap, they may take the position they already hold in the pacing line until such time as cars catch up, if cars have not caught up by the point where the pace car merges to the pit lane, then they may start from the position they are in and do not need to yield positions anymore.

10. PITTING:
It is the responsibility of the driver pitting to do so safely - they must call out their intention to pit via text chat clearly before pitting under green flag conditions, it is not required under caution.

Drivers spinning or causing an accident while pitting (and bringing out the yellow as a result) will be penalised. The penalty will be the highest available penalty, regardless of the amount of damage provoked to other competitors. Penalties can also be given for unnecessary contact in pit lane.

On tracks with pit lanes more than one lane wide, drivers should remain single file in the right hand lane unless entering their pit stall. Drivers should only use the left lane as a merging lane for entry and exit to their pit stalls. In general, the car ahead in the pitlane has right of way while merging and it is the responsibility of the following car to yield or avoid contact where applicable. Collisions in the pitlane may attract post race penalties. Drivers should maintain pit speed while in pitlane and not drop below it unless merging to their pit stall. Under no circumstances should drivers "undertake" in the pitlane by using the left lane or pit stalls pass other cars.

11. WAVE-BY ELIGIBILITY:
Any driver in front of the leader on track in the pacing line at one to go is considered to be in the wave-by position, this means he can at one to go, unlap himself in the same manner as the Free Pass Recipient - "Race Control" will send you to the rear of the pacing line automatically, however you may ignore this if in the waveby spot, drivers one or more laps down who are BEHIND the leader at one to go must follow the instruction of "Race Control" and drop to the rear of the pacing line as per rule 12.1.

11.1 FREE PASS RESTART PROCEDURE
At one to go "Race Control" will send you instruction to overtake the field and line up at the rear of the grid, you should do so as per 12.1


12. RESTART PROCEDURE:
At V8Thunder we operate double file restarts. At one to go, the Free Pass Car and anybody in the wave-by position (Rule 10) should pass the pace car and drive around the lap and rejoin the pacing line at the rear - ignore your spotter from this point on.

Like real life, the lead lap cars should then line up double file, the leader has lane choice (on the original start and restarts) and can choose the inside or outside lane, if the leader chooses the outside they should announce this in text chat and the second place car line up on the inside line. Behind all cars should line up odd position cars on the inside lane (3rd, 5th, 7th etc.) and even position cars (4th, 6th, 8th etc.) on the outside. Sometimes someone pits from the line at one to go meaning your position is incorrect on F2, in this case just count the number of cars in each lane and fill in the slot with the least number of cars. Once the pace car has left the track the leader must maintain pace speed (within +/- 5mph) until the green flag is shown, any increase in speed before the green flag is shown will be considered a jump start and a minor penalty will apply.

Drivers must stay in their lane until they have passed the start/finish line on the start and restarts, they may only move out of their lane to avoid an incident ahead or if it is absolutely necessary to avoid a slower car, generally if the car ahead is slower drivers should feather the throttle and maintain speed, they should not dive down the middle to try and overtake. A damaged car may drop to the apron or stay high up by the wall to avoid causing stackups on restarts or preferably indicate so and drop to the rear at one to go.

12.1 LAP DOWN CARS RESTART PROCEDURE:
Lap down cars not in the Free Pass Car or Wave-by position should at 1 to go drop to the apron as instructed by "Race Control" and allow lead lap cars to line up ahead of them (i.e. filter to the rear of the lead lap line) lap down cars do not have to yield to the Free Pass Recipient or wave-by cars unless they are able to catch back up to the pack by the middle of the back stretch.

The restart line-up after one to go should therefore be:

LEAD LAP CARS < LAPPED CARS < FREE PASS RECIPIENT < WAVE-BY CARS

If the track length allows it and the Free Pass Recipient is able to catch back up before the middle if the backstretch then the lineup should be:

LEAD LAP CARS < FREE PASS RECIPIENT < WAVE-BY CARS < LAPPED CARS

All double file where possible.

12.2 SPOTTER INFORMATION:
After 1 to go, your spotter will give you wrong information about the line-up - IGNORE THEM, use the live timing segment of the F2 screen (press space if you don't see the live data on F2), for guidance if you are a lap down, all the lead lap cars will be listed in red, let them by, if you are a lead lap car, you may overtake cars listed in green.

13. BLACK FLAGS UNDER CAUTIONS AND AT RESTARTS:
Black Flag penalties will be incurred on restarts and will be cleared automatically by the "Race Control" admin bot we use. There is no need to request a black flag penalty is cleared nor is there a requirement to serve it, because the game runs the 2003 rules, and we run the 2020 rules, black flags are going to be issued by the server regardless of what happens. If for any reason "Race Control" is not connected to the server then it is advisable to request the black flag is cleared through text chat. Black Fags are cleared in number order BY "Race Control" so if you have a high number, just be patient, if you find that the black flag hasn't been cleared by the end of the first then please type into chat BF and an admin will manually clear it.

This procedure will also clear black flags incurred for overtaking entering the pits during the caution or black flags incurred as a result of the caution, so please don't abuse this.

IN THE EVENT THAT "RACE CONTROL" IS NOT CONNECTED TO THE SERVER RULE 6-12 MAY BE SUSPENDED OR OPERATED BY AN ADMIN AT THEIR DISCRETION, SHOULD THERE BE NO ADMINS (CAR #8 OR #99) OR RACE CONTROL IN THE SERVER THEN THESE RULES (6-12) ARE SUSPENDED AUTOMATICALLY AND DO NOT APPLY. IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO ENSURE YOU ARE AWARE OF THIS AND ACT ACCORDINGLY AS BLACK FLAGS INCURRED DURING THIS TIME CANNOT BE CLEARED BY AN ADMIN, RESTARTS WILL BE AS PER IN-GAME RULES IN THIS SCENARIO (aka double file with lappers on inside lane).

14. BLACK FLAGS UNDER GREEN:
Black flags incurred under green conditions, such as for speeding in the pits, blending too early, or damage, should be served in the normal manner, if for some reason the black flag does not clear at the first attempt (such as you did a stop/go instead of a drive through) you may request this black flag is cleared by an Admin by typing into chat PENALTY SERVED BUT BF NOT CLEARED and an admin will clear it, this clearance will be checked post race and a minor penalty applied if it is found you did not attempt to clear it yourself before asking this rule will be under constant monitoring and should it be found that people consistently abuse this procedure to gain an advantage and not loose as much time as what they would do if they served the correct penalty, the facility will be withdrawm.

Admins may at their discretion clear a black flag without being asked if they feel the penalty is undeserved or has been issued in error but the general rule is if a black flag is incurred under green flag conditions, you must serve the penalty.

15. TWO STRIKES RULE:
In all series any driver who causes two cautions by either hitting other cars or self spinning, must park it. This is for the benefit of everybody as nobody likes to follow the pace car for 2 hours.

Failure to park it will result in future penalties from the race being doubled for every subsequent penalty, this will most likely also lead to a L2 license holder being demoted to L1 immediately or an L3 receiving additional championship sanctions (see rule 16).

16. POST RACE PENALTIES:
All NR2003 races receive incident analysis after the event (for incidents that result in a caution, happen under caution, in the pitlane, or happen under RBTL rules, for incidents that result in a race being restarted where possible if a replay is saved a penalty will also apply for this, in addition the cause of the incident will where possible be sent to the rear of the grid for the restart).

For further details of these penalties click here, incidents that do not result in a caution are not looked at unless a protest is received within 48 hours of the race finish however the reviewer may, at their discretion issue a penalty for incidents under green, but this should not be relied upon.
Penalty Points are deducted from the Lites, Trophy and Truck Seasonal Series scoring but Penalty Points are NOT deducted from Cup Series scoring.

16.1 POST RACE REPLAYS:
The driver who qualifies fastest in Truck or Trophy races must post their qualifying replay in the designated part of the forum within 48 hours of the race ending, this is so others can study your lap and potentially learn from it, failure to do so will result in s post race penalty.


17. YELLOW LINE RULE AT SUPERSPEEDWAYS (Atlanta 2022 only, All Daytona and Talladega):
A driver should not advance their position by going below the yellow line (wreck avoidance doesn't count). If a driver advances his position they must give it back within a reasonable period of time (approx 1 lap). If it is not possible to repay place because the offended driver has pit etc. then no penalty will apply. This rule is only enforceable by protest, therefore if a protest is received and and the offended (normally protesting) driver deliberately slows to avoid taking the position back (being unsportsmanlike) then the appropriate unsportsmanlike conduct penalty will be applied to them. Cutting the trioval at Atlanta is also considered unsportsman like conduct and a Minor Penalty will apply, this could be an overall penalty for the entire race or a minor penalty for each offence at the discretion of the Race Director.

The definition of passing below the yellow shall be where the at least left hand wheels go over the line onto the apron, for the benefit of argument if any part of the left hand wheels remain on the yellow line, this is considered a legal pass.

The Penalty for passing below the yellow line will be a Minor Penalty by protest. This rule does not apply if the person doing the overtaking was pushed or forced below the yellow line.

Should a protest be filed and it later found the driver being overtaken made insufficient attempts to retake the position after invitation, then the penalty will be moved to the protesting driver, only a "victim" may protest a Yellow line overtake or blocking incident.

Passing below the yellow line & bocking incidents will only be investigated if a protest is filed.

Drivers should not push other drivers below the yellow line trying to defend their position, once a person has overlap they are entitled to racing room, if a wreck happens as a result of the ahead car pushing the overtaking car below the yellow line, or pushing them towards it, the responsibility will be on the ahead car for the collision.

18. INTENTIONAL BLOCKING
Any deviation by a driver from his or her direct racing line, which substantially impedes the forward progress of a following/challenging car, is considered blocking. This is a Minor Penalty offence by protest.

19. OVERTAKING OTHER CARS:
Drivers must establish substantial overlap with the car ahead to have the right to drive up their inside and attempt to overtake, or to expect them to leave inside room for you. Substantial overlap means at least that the front of your car is in front of the rear wheels of the car ahead (in the green area in the image below - this is enough to trigger the spotter), in corners overlap should be established before the ahead car reach the corner's turn-in point, in double apex corners, the corners may be treated as seperate corners by the reviewer at their descretion.

GOOD OVERLAP:

In the above example the blue car has good enough overlap to expect racing room, in this scenario any resulting incident will be judged upon who moved most away or towards the white/yellow or racing line, so if the inside (blue) car drifts up the track into the outside car and there was enough room left by the outside (red) car then responsibility for the incident will rest with the inside (blue) car. Similarly if the outside car does not give enough racing room to the inside car, they will shoulder responsibility for the incident.

BAD OVERLAP:

In this example the pink car does not have enough substantial overlap and will shoulder the responsibility for any incident that occurs. The ahead driver has the right to be fully committed to the racing line of their choice without any interference if there was no substantial overlap before they turn in. The turn in point is at the reviewers discretion however guidance is given that it is taken from the in game racing line turn in point if one exists.

These rules apply regardless of whether the pass is for position or lapping a backmarker, on the straight a driver being overtaken should always leave enough room for the overtaking car to pass, pushing the car behind onto the apron or squeezing them into the wall is considered blocking and may result in a penalty (even if no yellow happens).

On a Superspeedway (Daytona and Talladega), ANY overlap is considered substantial overlap so once the overtaking car has their bumper overlapping any part of the car in front they are entitled to room and any contact will be considered based firstly on which car moved to trigger the contact.

20. THREE WIDE RACING:
3 Wides are generally discouraged unless absolutely necessary (i.e. lapping a slower car at a Superspeedway), if an incident arises as a result of a 3 wide, the peanalty will always be applied to the driver(s) who instigated the three wide regardless of what happened as it will be generally considered that as they were behind, they could already see the two cars ahead were side-by-side, however on a Superspeedway (Daytona, Talladega, Atlanta), this may not be the case and the penalty may be applied to the cause of the incident rather than whoever made it three wide. Forcing an unnecessary 3-wide can result in a post race penalty, incidents such as these are judged on an individual basis via post race protest, they will not routinely be looked as part of the post race analysis unless it causes a caution.

21. PIT LANE CONDUCT:
Drivers must maintain single file while in the pitlane in the far right lane, only entering the left lane (where applicable) to enter their pitstall, anybody attempting to overtake in the pitlane up the left side (right side at clockwise tracks such as Watkins Glen) will shoulder the responsibility for penalties. Collisions in the pitlane will be looked at on an individual basis but generally if the collision happens while entering or pacing the car behind will be assessed as responsible and contact exiting stalls will be judged on a per incident basis and depend upon any perceived intention or damage resulting from it. Causing a collision through using pit stalls or the slow lane to overtake will result in a Major Penalty.

22. WALL RIDING:
Wall riding to gain an advantage (aka what Ross Chastain did at Martinsville on 30th October 2022) is strictly prohibited and offenders will receive a Major Penalty.


22. ROAD COURSE EXCLUSIVE RULES:
Road Course Racing has some different rules, these races run yellow off but with stage breaks which are triggered manually by our in-race admin bot Race Control.
As per real world rules, approx 2-3 laps before the end of each stage the pits will close, this will be indicated by Race Control with a Pits Closed message displayed to all. If a driver pits after this message and before the caution comes out and pits open, they will receive a minor penalty. The message is timecoded and is checked post race. At some point randomly once the leader starts the stage lap, the caution will come out (our server can run the caution procedure, even when yellows are switched off). Racing Back is permitted when the caution comes out, and all drivers should race back to the yellow.

After this the pace car will pick up the leader, the free pass car will be announced, and the pit procedure will continue as normal as per regular league rules - we will not remove a lap of caution (because on road courses, everybody can pit first time by), if you are the free pass car, do the drive around as soon as you leave the pits, otherwise you won't make it back around as the one to go signal is shown the lap after the pit opens half way down the back stretch, any driver in the waveby position should wait until the one to go message to pass the pace car.

If there is a free pass car announced, on selected tracks in order to allow the free pass (and waveby) car(s) to catch up, the caution will be extended by 1 lap immediately after the "one to go" signal is given. If there is not a free pass or waveby car(s), the caution will not be extended. Everything will then proceed as normal with a double file restart. The timing of the yellow flags is random so be ready for it and remember you can race back to the line. .

23. QUICK CAUTIONS (Truck Series only):
In the Truck Series we run quick cautions, or otherwise known as quickie yellows. What this means is if a caution flies under EYP conditions (within 2 laps of the start or a restart) or within the last 5 laps of a race - enough pace laps will be removed so that when the pits open, the one to go signal will also be given. Everybody is allowed to pit first time by. a "Quick Yellow" will be manually announced by the in-race admin. If you are the free pass car, if you stay out follow the usual procedure of going round at one to go, if you decide to pit, then ignore the instructions from race control and drop to the rear of the lead lap cars in the pacing line and your lap will be given the manually at the restart by the admin, please tell the in-race admin what you are doing though so they know - it is our intention to fully automate this but due to limitations with the "Race Control" system at the present time full automation isn't presently possible. "Quick Cautions" are not used during Trophy/Cup events.


S3 - GENERAL GUIDANCE:
Forum, Driver Listings & Number Guarantee
All new drivers will be granted access to the forum immediately, they will not be added to the driver listing until they have competed in their first race. As a result this means their chosen number is only provisional until then and can be taken by another new member. Drivers who do not attempt to a race within three weeks of joining without good reason will be removed from the forum and entry lists.

Scoring All races count towards the championship.

Grievances
Grievances with another members driving may be submitted to any of the V8Thunder admin team by specifying the lap(s) in which the problem(s) occurred, along with description(s) of alleged offence(s) in confidence. Replay examples are necessary.

Car Skins
Car Skins can be uploaded to the relevant section of the forum. The following subjects are not permitted to be used in paint schemes:

Pornography
Obscene of Offensive language
Political / ecological / environmental / social / gender or religious messages or movements.

Paint schemes based upon Charities should be authorised by a member of the admin team in advance.

Car files should be manually uploaded to the specific car file thread as an when available.

General Conduct
Full real forename and surnames must be used when racing unless agreed in advance with the admins (for example where someone who uses a middle or shortened name in everyday life to be addressed may use that). Numbers must NOT to be changed during season.

If a driver is informed of warp by more than two other racers they should drop to the rear or a safe space, keep any eye on their connection status and not race too hard until their L Q and S dials are back into the green.

Members must not chat/talk/send messages during qualifying; during a race only messages relating to racing are permitted, i.e. : "Pass high, going low, thank you, sorry" etc. Similarly, no spoken communications in "Race Chat" channel should occur during qualifying. During the race, only race-related communications are allowed (see above).

Leave the decision as to who was to blame for the incident to the Admin Team member who is doing the race analysis AFTER THE EVENT, not during the event.

Chat Messages
Members must not, under any circumstances, "flame" or send abusive, insulting or derogatory chat/messages to other drivers whilst using the server - AT ANY TIME! This includes text messages during races and spoken communications on Discord, additional penalties/suspensions may be applied for offences. Members should not send text chat mesages (including whispers to non-teammates) under green flag conditions other than messages related directly to the race itself, such as messages to pass a particular side, when pitting, to thank someone etc. All public messages should be made in English (this does not apply to whispers). Discord has no specific "race chat oly under green" rule in the General Chat area however we encorage that chat is kept to a minimum under green conditions, for example calling out a slow car or position of a wreck it fine, but talking about the football results from last night isn't ideal, leave this type of chat to team channels or post race. Under cautions drivers can chat as they see fit subject to not being in direct contravention of the spirit of the rules.

Any evidence of cheating will result in dismissal from the league without leave of appeal. Unnecessary/deliberate wrecking in practice or happy hour for which the admins receive a complaint can be penalised with a minor awarded to the wrecker(s) for that night's race.

Members understand that server is for members use only and must not disclose any passwords to non-members.

Entries received after the day before a race will not be processed until the following weeks race - no exceptions!

Members should not attempt to cross promote other leagues or series without permission of a member of the admin team, in addition blocking of a member of the Admin or Social Media team on social media without good reason will result in instant dismissal from the League. Should the forum or website go down for whatever reason then out backup form of communication with drivers is through social media, therefore blocking these channels is unacceptable.

Points in Trophy, Trucks and Lites are awarded as follows:
175-170-165-160-155-150-146-142-138-134-130-127-124-121-118-115-112-109-106-103-100-97-94-91-88-85-82-79-76-73-70-67-64-61-58-55-52-49-46-43-40-37-64-34 with 5 bonus points for leading a lap, leading the most laps and setting fastest lap, a driver who is unable to race may request a provisional which will be last place + 5 positions.

In the year long Cup Series, the points are awarded as follows:
22-20-19-18-17-16-15-14-13-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 there are no bonus points. At the end of each stage, the top 7 are awarded points at 7-6-5-4-3-2-1. Playoff bonus points are awarded as 0.50 per stage win and 2.50 per race win in the Cup Series, (provisionals are as per regular NR2003 series, i.e. last +5 places).

Points for rFactor based series are awarded on field size basis with last place receicing 1 point and increasing per position, for example if 10 drivers race, the winner receives 10 points, there are also bonus point for leading a lap and fastest lap (as such no provisionals are available in rFactor series).