V8THUNDER PENALTY SYSTEM

Penalty Categories

Three categories of penalties have been defined - Minor, Medium and Major. Penalties were re-worded for Summer 2006 to emphasise two key points. Firstly, drivers should hold their line through the turns. Secondly, drivers should make sufficient attempt to avoid contact with other cars.Race analysis will be conducted after each race within the following terms:

Minor Penalty Offences Include (but are not limited to)...

* Excessive/agressive Blocking
* Jumping the start/restart or laying back to gain an advantage
* Self-spin/crash WITHOUT contact with other car(s) that results in a yellow
* Self-spin/crash WITH AVOIDABLE contact with other car(s) (i.e. other car(s) made insufficient attempts at avoidance)
* Failing to hold line causing contact with a car that is alongside and ALSO failing to hold line (i.e. one car drifts up, the other drifts down)
* Failing to hold line causing AVOIDABLE contact with car behind / Making AVOIDABLE contact with car in front that has failed to hold line
* Creating an AVOIDABLE situation from which OTHER cars make contact (e.g. forcing a three-wide, taking a wall-ride)
* Blown engine that could have been prevented (water/oil alert lights on) that results in a yellow
* Speeding through the pit lane in order to gain an advantage (this includes, but is not limited to, passing the leader of the pacing line in order to gain a lap lead or get a lap back)

Medium Penalty Offences Include (but are not limited to)...

* Self-spin/crash WITH UNAVOIDABLE contact with other car(s)
* Failing to call the tow-truck that results in a yellow (e.g. returning to track following a spin that didn't trigger a yellow)
* Making SIGNIFICANT contact with another car whilst behind the pace car under caution

Major Penalty Offences Include (but are not limited to)...

* Failing to hold line causing contact with a car that is alongside and holding line (i.e. drifting up/down track into other car)
* Failing to hold line in a turn causing UNAVOIDABLE contact with car behind
* Making AVOIDABLE contact with car in front that is holding line
* Making AVOIDABLE contact when the yellow is shown and hitting other car(s)
* Self-spin/crash while approaching/entering/exiting the pits that results in a yellow
* Warp incidents where driver had been made aware of persistent warp and did nothing about it, resulting in an accident
* Passing under yellow (except in the last 10 laps of a race)
* Gross misconduct towards other drivers without contact (for example, deliberately getting other drivers black flags)
* Deliberately causing a yellow (e.g. stopping on track)

Force Majeure

In the event that the reviewer is unable to find one party to be more at fault for an incident that results in a caution, the review reserves the right not to issue penalty points at his/her discretion, this is also extended to penalties being downgraded, or upgraded under special circumstances.

Penalty Points

Recognising that driving standards should be higher as drivers move up the V8Thunder series ladder, it has been decided that penalties will be less severe at the bottom of the ladder and will increase in severity higher up the ladder. The following penalty points will therefore be awarded:

Lites

Minor - 10 penalty points
Medium - 20 penalty points
Major - 30 penalty points

Trucks

Minor - 15 penalty points
Medium - 25 penalty points
Major - 35 penalty points

Inters/Trophy/Indycars

Minor - 20 penalty points
Medium - 30 penalty points
Major - 40 penalty points

Starts / Restarts

Each penalty awarded for a yellow occurring on the first or second lap of green running (as defined by position of race leader) will incur an additional 10 penalty points.

This additional penalty exists to encourage all drivers to take extra care when tyres are cold. If incidents that occur shortly after the green flag flies can be cut out, there is a far greater chance of a long green spell occurring.

Note, this means that incidents occurring on the opening two laps of a 'yellows off' race will not, by definition, attract additional penalties.

Multiple Penalties

Additional penalties will apply for being involved in multiple incidents in one race:

2 penalties: + 20% of penalty points
3 penalties: + 30% of penalty points
4+ penalties: + 40% of penalty points

These additional penalties exist to encourage drivers who have already been involved in incidents to take more care than usual for the remainder of the race.

These additional penalties have been changed to percentages rather than a flat rate to ensure that someone causing, say, only Minor incidents is not hit as hard as someone causing Major incidents. Penalty points will be rounded to their nearest whole number (.5 will be rounded up).

Large Field Penalties

Additional penalties will apply for being involved in accidents in a race with a large field:

25+ starters: 5 penalty points

If everyone causes one yellow in a race, there will obviously be more yellows with, say, twenty-five starters than with fifteen. These additional penalties exist to encourage drivers to be sensible when there is a large field, to ensure that there is some green running.

Suspensions

Race suspensions are possible in ALL series. When a driver reaches 200 penalty points (250 in Lites), he or she will be suspended from one race meeting, effective immediately (for guidance this is 2 Races / 1 Round in Lites & Indycars, and 1 Race / 1 Round in Trucks, Inters and Trophy).

Any driver returning from suspension will then have a limit of 100 penalty points before incurring a subsequent one race suspension. This lower limit exists to encourage drivers who have already been suspended to take more care than usual for the remainder of the season.

Race Positions

The above applies to championship points - race positions will not be changed. This means you can win a race but end up with minimal points. You could even win every race but not win the championship.

Note, although it is possible to receive more than 190 penalty points in a race, it is not possible to receive an overall negative score for a race. The minimum score is zero. However, whilst it is not possible to score negative points in terms of standings, ALL penalty points accrued in a race will be added to the cumulative total, regardless of whether this exceeds the number of points scored in that race.

Policing

All incidents causing yellows will be investigated and taken into account for penalties. Not all yellows will necessarily result in penalties.

In addition, penalties may be awarded for incidents that do not cause a yellow. However, these incidents must be brought to the attention of an admin as soon as possible following the end of a race, and certainly within 24 hours. This is also how races with yellows off will be policed.

Appeals

Members can appeal the outcome of any incident in which they were directly involved; this includes seeking reductions in your own penalties or increases in someone else's. Note, however, that, once lodged, appeals may not be withdrawn and may result in member who is appealing receiving an increased penalty. So think carefully before lodging an appeal.

ALL appeals against penalties issued must be sent by PM only within 24 hours of the penalty list being posted. All appeals received after this deadline, or appeals not sent by PM, will not be looked at.

Please note that in order to reduce the large number of unsuccessful appeals, members must show some evidence of having actually looked objectively at the incident in question. Using the penalties outlined above, members must explain in their PM why they feel their penalty is inappropriate and what penalty they would give instead.

Penalty Appeal Board

Appeals will now be heard by a committee of the member's peers. The Penalty Appeal Board (PAB) will consist of five active members of V8Thunder. PAB members commit themselves to at least six weeks of duty, and in blocks of six weeks. After this period they can leave the board if they so wish, and their place will be taken by another member. No member may do more than one full season on the board. Forbidden from being PAB members are series directors and all other admins.

Appeal Procedure

The race director performs the initial accident analysis and posts the penalties. If a driver appeals a penalty, the race director provides the PAB with a clip of the incident from the server replay. If necessary, other material may also be provided (e.g. replay clip provided by member appealing, and the PM notifying the race director of the appeal).

The PAB then has 72 hours to process the appeal. The PAB can remove the penalty, change the severity of penalty, or penalise a different driver for the incident. The PAB verdict is final and further appeals are not permitted. Once a verdict has been given, the race director will contact the member with the result of the appeal and amend the accident analysis.

Please note that if there is any evidence of 'wrong-doing' by the PAB, this new process will be removed immediately and members will no longer be entitled to appeals.