RaceDepartment Historic Club Series Season 9 Round 3 – It’s my birthday and I’ll cry if I want to.
Welcome back to Round 3 of the RDHCS Season 9. Round 2 was a tricky proposition to throw at you so early in the season, but if it was all too easy, it wouldn’t be the challenge of the RDHCS. There were a number of very close battles through the race length right up and down the field, again with very good manners reported by all. Umbria was a real challenge, and a real tyre ripper, presenting differing problems to all vehicle types, meaning close, mixed class battles again.
Just to give you fair warning, this race is taking place on my birthday, so I will be constantly harping on about getting older, rubbish presents and chocolate cakes in general – hence this rounds password. Get used to it, it isn’t going to stop.
Moving 915 miles North West, we depart the warm sun, olive groves and aqueducts of Umbrian Italy to arrive at the overcast and rain blown North Leicestershire in October site of the Donington Park GP circuit in England. Sounds appealing, I know.
Circuit Notes
Located in the centre of Englands glamorous triangle of Derby, Loughborough and Burton upon Trent, Donington Park is one of the more famous circuits in the UK, and also one of the oldest. The first race (using motorcycles) was held in 1931 on normal width unsealed estate roads. Fred Craner, the force behind the circuits creation and for whom the famous “Curves” are named, then gained permission to create a permanent circuit on widened and tarmac sealed roads for the sum of £12,000. The first car race was held in 1933 to open the new circuit, with a further 3 meetings that year. The first Donington Park Trophy race was held on 7 October that year, and the 20-lap invitation event was won by the Earl Howe in a Bugatti Type 51. The circuit hosted Grand Prix 1935, 1937 & 1938 before the MOD requisitioned it as a vehicle depot during World War II.
The circuit re-opened as home to the Wheatcroft family’s car collection in 1971, and then to racing in 1977. The Melbourne Loop was added in 1985 (named because it points to the Derbyshire town of Melbourne rather than any linkage with the Australian city & F1 venue – prosaic but true) to extend the circuit length to the 4.2km that we will be racing on.
The circuit has hosted every major (and probably most minor) motor racing classes available in the UK – including Ayrton Senna’s fabled drive to victory in the rain in the 1993 European Grand Prix. The gentlemen of the RDHCS will be following in Senna’s footsteps, although almost certainly drier.
A lap of Donington GP begins on the decent length Wheatcroft straight, across the S/F line and getting up to pretty high speeds before the tricky lap opener, T1R – Redgate.
Redgate is always tricky, because it’s not constant radius, there’s no helping camber, and it opens onto a fast section of the track, so you are always looking to attack. Redgate is generally best taken conservatively on entry and then attacked later in the corner, because the penalty for going in too hot is a trip across some slippery grass and gravel.
Accelerating out of Redgate, you are flat out in the RDHCS cars through the next section, T2R – Hollywood & T3L – the Craner Curves.
Hollywood will be taken full throttle by everybody, all still accelerating from Redgate. Hollywood drops away, lightening the cars over the crest meaning that Craner, in some cars at least, may need to be taken with a dab of brakes just to settle the cars weight down. However Craner is taken, you will still be travelling at a fair old rate of knots at exit.
Coming out of Craner you are barrelling downhill, but then it’s hard and early on the brakes for undoubtedly the best corner on the circuit, T4R – Old Hairpin. The approach is downhill, extending the braking distance, and the additional result of that downhill approach is that the corner is negatively cambered, so cars will understeer through here. In most cars, it’s a case of lining up wide left, braking early, turning in early and hard, lifting off to get the rear moving slightly to counteract the understeer generated by the downhill approach, and then powering through the apex nice and early in a slight 4 wheel drift. Get the Old Hairpin correct, and it’s a glorious feeling. Get it wrong, and you’ll be scrabbling across outer kerbs, and almost certainly grass, or even worse, accelerating too hard and getting the nose spinning towards the inside of the track and into the tyres.
Power out of Old Hairpin, along the short straight there and turn in early to drift across the apex of T5L – Starkey’s I, under Starkey’s Bridge with the Blue Flame on top, still accelerating, and again as the track starts to turn uphill through T6L – Starkey’s II. Exiting Starkey’s, it’s hard on the brakes uphill for T7R – McLean’s.
McLean’s is another tricky corner, not as tight as it first appears, but crested near the apex so the exit is blind until you get beyond the crest, slippery on the exit, with disrupting kerbs on the inside on the tight line, and dusty, low grip earth outside the low outer kerb.
A shortish stab of acceleration follows out of McLean’s onto another uphill section, before braking for T8R – Coppice. Coppice is approached uphill, with a crested apex, and a blind exit onto the fastest part of the track, but the exit also has bumps to upset the driver who doesn’t give it the respect it deserves and who rushes to open the taps on the straight. If not the best corner on the track, it’s certainly one of the trickiest.
Scrabbling around for traction, sliding around on the limits of adhesion, you press hard -but gently- to get on the power onto Starkey’s straight. The cars can wander around as you go over the crest and under the Dunlop Bridge, reaching top speed on the lap before getting hard on the brakes for T9aL & T9bR – The (Fogarty) Esses.
The Esses are very closely arranged, and are protected by high kerbs, dusty off road surfaces and cut warnings. Firing out of The Esses, you accelerate as hard as your level of grip will allow, onto the steeply downhill Shields Straight, taking care to align yourself through the slight elbow, before getting hard and early on the brakes for T10R – Melbourne Hairpin. Like the Old Hairpin, the approach is steeply downhill, and that downhill slope means that the corner is negatively cambered, making turn in even harder to get done. The track is slippery down the bottom of Melbourne, so getting back on the accelerator needs some circumspection otherwise you are very likely to spin your rears and onto the grass infield.
Get back up the hill, and be looking for brake markers as the road flattens and then gently slopes downhill again for the final turn of the track, T11L – Goddards. The track we’re driving differs slightly from the map as the pits on this layout are AFTER Goddards, not before as shown on the map. You can just make out the grey line after Goddards that shows the pit entrance. The apex slightly falls away, so it is difficult to get the power down as early as you would like, and turning in early to compensate will send you across bumpy and low grip inner kerbs.
Once you’re settled, stand on the loud pedal across the grid, under the gantry, across the S/F line and start another lap of Donington GP.
The Race Director has some notes for drivers. Please see the track map above for location of Race Direction note:-
All Corners Without Exception – The kerbs are not deemed as track, therefore 2 wheels must be within the white lines, on the tarmac, At All Times. Again, there are NO exceptions to this rule at any point on the circuit. Any exception to this rule is deemed illegal, any advantage gained by this method must be ceded immediately. Report people deliberately and excessively cutting. The worst offenders from previous seasons have not signed up, so I hope that this will be a non-issue this season.
Racing Room must be given to all drivers – and this works both ways. Divebombing into and across a corner denies people the chance to make the corner correctly just as much as someone obliviously (or deliberately) cutting the nose off of another driver who has achieved partial overlap fairly.
T1R – Especially on Lap 1. Be aware of people as you turn in here, it has the possibility to cause huge problems if drivers don’t respect each other. Be aware that any incidents caused by reckless or over aggressive driving in Turn 1 during the first lap will be dealt with severely, probably with a “no quali” penalty for Round 2.
T4R – Old Hairpin. It’s not the most dangerous corner in and of itself, but it WILL be the scene of people going off, so I’m going to remind you all about safe re-entries to the track being an absolute must.
T9aL & T9bR – The Esses. I’ll remind you all again that you must have 2 wheels within the white lines at all points on the track, so do not cut these Esses. Moreover, please report anyone deliberately cutting here.
T10R – Melbourne. Like Old Hairpin, this is likely to be the site of some spins and offs, so care in recovery and re-entry to the track is a requirement here. You made the mistake – DON’T stuff up someone else’s race because of your hurry to get back on track. Take your medicine and do it safely.
T11L – Goddards. It is very possible that, if you are too eager on the accelerator coming out of Goddards, you will lose the rear, and point your nose straight up the Pit Entrance. If you do start to go up there TAKE YOUR MEDICINE and DON’T throw your car back across the racing surface if you are not under full control. Put your limiter on, go through the pits, pay attention to the exit lights to see if anyone is approaching, and rejoin safely.
All points on the track – General Items
Drivers may put on their lights (and keep them on) during a timed qualification lap, so other drivers know to get out of the way when safe to do so.
No lights are to be flashed at any stage, under any circumstances, during the Race Session.
No Chat during the Quali or Race except by Race Control for information.
The Track must be re-entered safely so as not to ruin other peoples races.
Car damage must be assessed realistically to know if it is possible to make the pits or not.
Incidents, Investigations and Penalties
There were no reported incidents from Round 2
There was 1 no no-show in Round 2 where Tim Ling receives an infraction.
As a change from last season, and as a result that I am personally reminding you of each race with the new posts and the PM for passwords, 2 no-shows will mean removal from the League, whether they are consecutive or not.
Please remember, the League staff will only review incidents if they are reported to them.
No report = no review.
Please try and remember the incident reporting guidelines: review, cool off, review again. Only after following the above process, and if you are convinced you still need to report it, should you let the League staff know. Please give as much information as possible during the report (time of incident, drivers involved etc.) Accident reports made within 24 hours of race completion will be ignored.
Any accusations or complaints aired in the Chat during or after a race will mean a penalty levied on the person complaining or making the accusations, even if a subsequent official complaint gets found in their favour. I simply will NOT tolerate any post race finger pointing.
Liveries
You have chosen your car and livery already, and you must only drive your chosen car at any time during an RDHCS event. Every driver has a unique livery in this season of RDHCS.
Reporting Attendance
As GPCOS seems to be down, I will be sending a PM with the round password to all Signed-Up drivers. I will also be running an “Attendance” post. If you are definitely driving, you need to “like” the post. If you are NOT driving (or if you are unsure of attendance) you must post a reply to say so. If there is no response, or if a response is posted after 2 hours before race start time on race day, it will be treated as a No-Show. Again 2 No-Shows will mean removal from the league.
Scoring System
Points are scored down to P20 (75% distance completion required) so people can fight for some points no matter where they are on the track, and hopefully have a season long battle with people around them in the League.
The Distribution is as follows for 100km events :
P1 - 25 pts
P2 - 22
P3 - 20
P4 - 18
P5 - 16
P6 - 15
P7 - 14
P8 - 13
P9 - 12
P10 - 11
P11 - 10
P12 - 9
P13 - 8
P14 - 7
P15 - 6
P16 - 5
P17 - 4
P18 - 3
P19 - 2
P20 - 1
1 point for fastest race lap
1 point for qualifying on Pole
Welcome back to Round 3 of the RDHCS Season 9. Round 2 was a tricky proposition to throw at you so early in the season, but if it was all too easy, it wouldn’t be the challenge of the RDHCS. There were a number of very close battles through the race length right up and down the field, again with very good manners reported by all. Umbria was a real challenge, and a real tyre ripper, presenting differing problems to all vehicle types, meaning close, mixed class battles again.
Just to give you fair warning, this race is taking place on my birthday, so I will be constantly harping on about getting older, rubbish presents and chocolate cakes in general – hence this rounds password. Get used to it, it isn’t going to stop.
Moving 915 miles North West, we depart the warm sun, olive groves and aqueducts of Umbrian Italy to arrive at the overcast and rain blown North Leicestershire in October site of the Donington Park GP circuit in England. Sounds appealing, I know.
Circuit Notes
Located in the centre of Englands glamorous triangle of Derby, Loughborough and Burton upon Trent, Donington Park is one of the more famous circuits in the UK, and also one of the oldest. The first race (using motorcycles) was held in 1931 on normal width unsealed estate roads. Fred Craner, the force behind the circuits creation and for whom the famous “Curves” are named, then gained permission to create a permanent circuit on widened and tarmac sealed roads for the sum of £12,000. The first car race was held in 1933 to open the new circuit, with a further 3 meetings that year. The first Donington Park Trophy race was held on 7 October that year, and the 20-lap invitation event was won by the Earl Howe in a Bugatti Type 51. The circuit hosted Grand Prix 1935, 1937 & 1938 before the MOD requisitioned it as a vehicle depot during World War II.
The circuit re-opened as home to the Wheatcroft family’s car collection in 1971, and then to racing in 1977. The Melbourne Loop was added in 1985 (named because it points to the Derbyshire town of Melbourne rather than any linkage with the Australian city & F1 venue – prosaic but true) to extend the circuit length to the 4.2km that we will be racing on.
The circuit has hosted every major (and probably most minor) motor racing classes available in the UK – including Ayrton Senna’s fabled drive to victory in the rain in the 1993 European Grand Prix. The gentlemen of the RDHCS will be following in Senna’s footsteps, although almost certainly drier.
A lap of Donington GP begins on the decent length Wheatcroft straight, across the S/F line and getting up to pretty high speeds before the tricky lap opener, T1R – Redgate.
Redgate is always tricky, because it’s not constant radius, there’s no helping camber, and it opens onto a fast section of the track, so you are always looking to attack. Redgate is generally best taken conservatively on entry and then attacked later in the corner, because the penalty for going in too hot is a trip across some slippery grass and gravel.
Accelerating out of Redgate, you are flat out in the RDHCS cars through the next section, T2R – Hollywood & T3L – the Craner Curves.
Hollywood will be taken full throttle by everybody, all still accelerating from Redgate. Hollywood drops away, lightening the cars over the crest meaning that Craner, in some cars at least, may need to be taken with a dab of brakes just to settle the cars weight down. However Craner is taken, you will still be travelling at a fair old rate of knots at exit.
Coming out of Craner you are barrelling downhill, but then it’s hard and early on the brakes for undoubtedly the best corner on the circuit, T4R – Old Hairpin. The approach is downhill, extending the braking distance, and the additional result of that downhill approach is that the corner is negatively cambered, so cars will understeer through here. In most cars, it’s a case of lining up wide left, braking early, turning in early and hard, lifting off to get the rear moving slightly to counteract the understeer generated by the downhill approach, and then powering through the apex nice and early in a slight 4 wheel drift. Get the Old Hairpin correct, and it’s a glorious feeling. Get it wrong, and you’ll be scrabbling across outer kerbs, and almost certainly grass, or even worse, accelerating too hard and getting the nose spinning towards the inside of the track and into the tyres.
Power out of Old Hairpin, along the short straight there and turn in early to drift across the apex of T5L – Starkey’s I, under Starkey’s Bridge with the Blue Flame on top, still accelerating, and again as the track starts to turn uphill through T6L – Starkey’s II. Exiting Starkey’s, it’s hard on the brakes uphill for T7R – McLean’s.
McLean’s is another tricky corner, not as tight as it first appears, but crested near the apex so the exit is blind until you get beyond the crest, slippery on the exit, with disrupting kerbs on the inside on the tight line, and dusty, low grip earth outside the low outer kerb.
A shortish stab of acceleration follows out of McLean’s onto another uphill section, before braking for T8R – Coppice. Coppice is approached uphill, with a crested apex, and a blind exit onto the fastest part of the track, but the exit also has bumps to upset the driver who doesn’t give it the respect it deserves and who rushes to open the taps on the straight. If not the best corner on the track, it’s certainly one of the trickiest.
Scrabbling around for traction, sliding around on the limits of adhesion, you press hard -but gently- to get on the power onto Starkey’s straight. The cars can wander around as you go over the crest and under the Dunlop Bridge, reaching top speed on the lap before getting hard on the brakes for T9aL & T9bR – The (Fogarty) Esses.
The Esses are very closely arranged, and are protected by high kerbs, dusty off road surfaces and cut warnings. Firing out of The Esses, you accelerate as hard as your level of grip will allow, onto the steeply downhill Shields Straight, taking care to align yourself through the slight elbow, before getting hard and early on the brakes for T10R – Melbourne Hairpin. Like the Old Hairpin, the approach is steeply downhill, and that downhill slope means that the corner is negatively cambered, making turn in even harder to get done. The track is slippery down the bottom of Melbourne, so getting back on the accelerator needs some circumspection otherwise you are very likely to spin your rears and onto the grass infield.
Get back up the hill, and be looking for brake markers as the road flattens and then gently slopes downhill again for the final turn of the track, T11L – Goddards. The track we’re driving differs slightly from the map as the pits on this layout are AFTER Goddards, not before as shown on the map. You can just make out the grey line after Goddards that shows the pit entrance. The apex slightly falls away, so it is difficult to get the power down as early as you would like, and turning in early to compensate will send you across bumpy and low grip inner kerbs.
Once you’re settled, stand on the loud pedal across the grid, under the gantry, across the S/F line and start another lap of Donington GP.
The Race Director has some notes for drivers. Please see the track map above for location of Race Direction note:-
All Corners Without Exception – The kerbs are not deemed as track, therefore 2 wheels must be within the white lines, on the tarmac, At All Times. Again, there are NO exceptions to this rule at any point on the circuit. Any exception to this rule is deemed illegal, any advantage gained by this method must be ceded immediately. Report people deliberately and excessively cutting. The worst offenders from previous seasons have not signed up, so I hope that this will be a non-issue this season.
Racing Room must be given to all drivers – and this works both ways. Divebombing into and across a corner denies people the chance to make the corner correctly just as much as someone obliviously (or deliberately) cutting the nose off of another driver who has achieved partial overlap fairly.
T1R – Especially on Lap 1. Be aware of people as you turn in here, it has the possibility to cause huge problems if drivers don’t respect each other. Be aware that any incidents caused by reckless or over aggressive driving in Turn 1 during the first lap will be dealt with severely, probably with a “no quali” penalty for Round 2.
T4R – Old Hairpin. It’s not the most dangerous corner in and of itself, but it WILL be the scene of people going off, so I’m going to remind you all about safe re-entries to the track being an absolute must.
T9aL & T9bR – The Esses. I’ll remind you all again that you must have 2 wheels within the white lines at all points on the track, so do not cut these Esses. Moreover, please report anyone deliberately cutting here.
T10R – Melbourne. Like Old Hairpin, this is likely to be the site of some spins and offs, so care in recovery and re-entry to the track is a requirement here. You made the mistake – DON’T stuff up someone else’s race because of your hurry to get back on track. Take your medicine and do it safely.
T11L – Goddards. It is very possible that, if you are too eager on the accelerator coming out of Goddards, you will lose the rear, and point your nose straight up the Pit Entrance. If you do start to go up there TAKE YOUR MEDICINE and DON’T throw your car back across the racing surface if you are not under full control. Put your limiter on, go through the pits, pay attention to the exit lights to see if anyone is approaching, and rejoin safely.
All points on the track – General Items
Drivers may put on their lights (and keep them on) during a timed qualification lap, so other drivers know to get out of the way when safe to do so.
No lights are to be flashed at any stage, under any circumstances, during the Race Session.
No Chat during the Quali or Race except by Race Control for information.
The Track must be re-entered safely so as not to ruin other peoples races.
Car damage must be assessed realistically to know if it is possible to make the pits or not.
Incidents, Investigations and Penalties
There were no reported incidents from Round 2
There was 1 no no-show in Round 2 where Tim Ling receives an infraction.
As a change from last season, and as a result that I am personally reminding you of each race with the new posts and the PM for passwords, 2 no-shows will mean removal from the League, whether they are consecutive or not.
Please remember, the League staff will only review incidents if they are reported to them.
No report = no review.
Please try and remember the incident reporting guidelines: review, cool off, review again. Only after following the above process, and if you are convinced you still need to report it, should you let the League staff know. Please give as much information as possible during the report (time of incident, drivers involved etc.) Accident reports made within 24 hours of race completion will be ignored.
Any accusations or complaints aired in the Chat during or after a race will mean a penalty levied on the person complaining or making the accusations, even if a subsequent official complaint gets found in their favour. I simply will NOT tolerate any post race finger pointing.
Liveries
You have chosen your car and livery already, and you must only drive your chosen car at any time during an RDHCS event. Every driver has a unique livery in this season of RDHCS.
Reporting Attendance
As GPCOS seems to be down, I will be sending a PM with the round password to all Signed-Up drivers. I will also be running an “Attendance” post. If you are definitely driving, you need to “like” the post. If you are NOT driving (or if you are unsure of attendance) you must post a reply to say so. If there is no response, or if a response is posted after 2 hours before race start time on race day, it will be treated as a No-Show. Again 2 No-Shows will mean removal from the league.
Scoring System
Points are scored down to P20 (75% distance completion required) so people can fight for some points no matter where they are on the track, and hopefully have a season long battle with people around them in the League.
The Distribution is as follows for 100km events :
P1 - 25 pts
P2 - 22
P3 - 20
P4 - 18
P5 - 16
P6 - 15
P7 - 14
P8 - 13
P9 - 12
P10 - 11
P11 - 10
P12 - 9
P13 - 8
P14 - 7
P15 - 6
P16 - 5
P17 - 4
P18 - 3
P19 - 2
P20 - 1
1 point for fastest race lap
1 point for qualifying on Pole
