AARCMCC EP ONR

April 2017 rankings

It's been a big month for the rankings, with the WA State titles, Muchmore Masters, and TFTR Masters all counting towards the rankings... and seeing a new drivers on top of the mod and 13.5 rankings as a result

As previously, also have the top ten tech charts for all classes as well.

Congrats to the new top ranked drivers
ISTC Modified - Nathan Reese
ISTC 13.5t - Terry Norman
ISTC 21.5t - Chris Milton
1:12th Modified - Dean Paraskevas

Points Summary - https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8...kRmUzBHQjhLSEE

Links to all the actual rankings point scores;

ISTC Modified - https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8...1VWS1AySW5tMXM
ISTC 13.5t - https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8...01HcE5QdGFmUEE
ISTC 21.5t - https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8...XhMRzJpYzVNb0E
ISTC Combined - https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8...WZRNzRPMFJsN3M
1:12th Modified - https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8...y1JWi03b0tNMGM

Rankings will stay the same next month, as the next counting round is the NSW State titles on 16th-18th of June

AARCMCC EP ONR

Attention Racers and Clubs!
The next set of rule proposals are out for discussion, and voting.
In summary, the proposals are;
Proposal 025 – Race Restarts
Proposal 026 – Tyre Quantities
Proposal 027 – Transmitter Impound
Proposal 028 – Transponders
Proposal 029 – Ranking System Amendment
The detailed proposals can be found here;

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8A...VjRXJFanM/view

If any Clubs haven't received the voting email, please get in contact with the committee ASAP, and we can rectify that
[email protected]
Closing date for the Votes is the 30th June with any proposals going through being added to the rule book for introduction in July.

PDR

iTrader: (31)

Just a minor grammatical query: is the proposed wording for 1.3.6 (proposal 029) as intended?

"Ranking shall be updated individual class raced"

TryHard

iTrader: (4)

Should be
"Ranking shall be updated by individual class raced"

Radio Active

iTrader: (2)

I fully support proposals 026, 027, 028 and 029.

Pause. No, I really think those are good changes.

--------


But 025, really?

No really?

Surely, this one isn't up elsewhere, it's just here to troll me right?

No?

Ok then... here it goes:

So, we have the RC equivalent of can't get out first ball?

They only stop races in real motorsport when there is a risk of injury to competitors from carnage on the circuit. I can't see this ever being the case in RC. The drivers are 30 m away after all.

I seriously couldn't believe I was reading this: "Reasoning – Allows the race referee to restart the race in the event of a crash on the first lap. Testing of race restarts at events such as VIC state titles and the TFTR Masters has found restarting the race to be very effective at achieving close racing with less first lap incidents."

Why, well a number of reasons:

1) Well, of course if you restart all the races with accidents on the first lap there will be fewer races with first lap accidents, but who wants that?

Accidents are a part of racing. Being able to keep your cool at the beginning of a race and avoid incident is a key racing skill. What's more it gives most of us mere mortals a chance. If you're not the fastest then you've still got a chance if you can take advantage when young hot shot overcooks it in turn 1. Restart the races though, and they get a second chance to get it right. Doesn't seem fair.

2) Is every first lap crash grounds for a restart?
i) Let's assume yes, then all we have is a rolling start, effectively. What's the point?
ii) Let's assume no. Then the referee gets to decide which accidents require a restart and which don't. This gives the referee a dangerous level of control over the outcome of the race. They're no longer there just to reprimand drivers who break the rules, but they get to decide whether your competitor gets to recover from when they tried to dive down the inside of you and hit the curve.

Again, why does someone get a do-over when they make a mistake. It's not fair on everyone who got away clean.

And sure, you can get caught up in someone else's accident, but that can happen on any lap. Why is lap 1 any different?

3) Imagine what happens if I start the race late. Say 3 minutes in, and I crash on my first lap. With the way this justification is worded, everyone has to start again...

4) What counts as a crash? If I hit the barrier and lose a place, but don't have to be marshalled does that lead to a restart? What if I magic roll? If I crash because my wheel came off, do I get to repair it? What if my wheel comes off, but I don't crash? Would it then be in my best interest to cause an accident?

I'm sorry, but this just seems ridiculous to me. Seriously, someone has to be trolling me.

Well, in case they aren't. Let me remind everyone that I liked all the other proposals. The justifications make sense, they're good common sense changes that fix the rule book (028), make racing cheaper (026), simplify the rule book (027), and reduce needless workload on administrators (029).

If it wasn't for 025 the most serious issue I'd have to point out would be that you've mislabeled proposal 028 as 027, and 029 as 028.

DamianW

iTrader: (5)

Thank you for your feedback. Your input is always welcomed and appreciated.

In regards to proposal 025 I had a similar view to yourself until I saw Scotty restart races at AOC. After seeing race restarts used first hand at AOC, VICs 2017 and the TFTR masters IMO they work very well.

The change in attitude (calming racers down), massive reduction in agro after a crash when the race is restarted has resulted in better racing.

You are correct about all cars and the proposal will be amended from:

“Under no circumstances may an instruction, warning or penalty issued by the Referees lead to the interruption of the whole race after all cars have completed the first lap.”

To:

“Under no circumstances may an instruction, warning or penalty issued by the Referees lead to the interruption of the whole race after the first car has completed the first lap.”

Hugh Jazz

iTrader: (4)

I have to agree with Daniel on this.
At the recent XrS race a driver stripped a spur on the start and caused a pile up of the last three cars. Now under this rule would he be able to fix his car to make the restart?

Second final, A driver dive bombs the first corner and causes a pile up. First and third get away clean. Now under this rule it rewards this stupid behaviour and allows them to try it again. When in fact we as drivers are trying to stop this behaviour.
Out of all the races at that race I would say two would of not been rerun. One in 21.5 and A3 in 13.5.
This leads to an unnecessary time extension on the race meet.

TryHard

iTrader: (4)

In this instance, no. He is out. Race is halted, cars slow on track, and roll back round to the starting grid.

Yes there is a risk of a driver repeating the same mistakes, but personally having had the experience of it happen at the Vics this year, knowing you are being watched makes everyone the little more cautious at the start. Which in turn does lead to better starts more often first time round.
And secondly, if you can identify the troublesome individuals that caused the first start to be aborted, then a ref/race director can be keeping a keener eye on them, and actually award a penalty more correctly if required.

Hugh Jazz

iTrader: (4)

Thought of another point.
We have three A finals for this reason.

evochick

iTrader: (5)

To me this feels like a driver knows there is no consequences if you are in the mid/back of the pack.. well we have even see in at the front as well.

I feel like we are making rules for unenforced bad driving.

gigaplex

iTrader: (2)

You raise some valid concerns, there's definitely a lot of room for abuse. But on the flip side, I was involved in a race restart (can't remember if it was at VICs or TFTR Masters). One car made a mistake and took out 3 or 4 other cars, including myself. Without that restart, that's 4-5 cars (half the grid) with their race mostly ruined because of one persons mistake. That's a lot of unhappy people, and we're racing for fun, right?

On the first lap, all the cars start pretty close together. There's much more risk of an accident, and there's much less of a hit on the race schedule if you only restart on the first lap.

nexxus

iTrader: (315)

I don't see an issue with the restart, we've all seen people try and win the race in the first corner and wipe out half the field, that's not what we want to see. You want to see racing where people are competing with each other for the duration, not where half the field is essentially eliminated from contention in the first 10 seconds. It's quite demoralising to be someone taken out by something like this when they felt like they had a chance, and isn't this meant to be fun anyway?

cplus

iTrader: (11)

Seems the automatic thinking people have is this will happen multiple times per round.

It won't. Maybe 1-2 times across an event weekend. And as said, do it once and be the cause of the restart and you'll be on notice for the rest of the event.

Race directors will need some education (and some credit for their knowledge) of course.

This will also most definitely rule out the "all or nothing" dive in the last final for the racer who has the slim chance of a podium and has to win to get it.

gigaplex

iTrader: (2)

Agreed.

This part I disagree with. Instead it's an "all or another chance" manoeuvre so it encourages reckless dives late in the event. You could say "oh well, it's just a restart, no harm done" but they could easily break someone elses car, resulting in a DNF and an expensive repair bill.

Radio Active

iTrader: (2)

Accidents happen. Sometimes they happen on the first lap. This is part of racing.

Sure, it can be upsetting to get caught up in someone else's mistake. But next time maybe you'll be the beneficiary of better luck that will cancel things out. That's racing.

Learning to deal with these ups and downs makes someone not only a better racer, but also a better person.

We don't remember the races where we start 4th and finish 4th, but we do remember the ones where we came from 8th and finished 3rd. Drivers out of position with their pace is what results in wheel to wheel action. That little bit of randomness you get sometimes from the first lap in racing is part of what makes it fun.

-----

If it's an accident, it's an accident. But if someone hacks another driver or cuts the circuit they should be penalised. That's what the race referees should be concentrating on, not whether their bad driving should result in a restart or not.