Welcome back to Round 2 of the RD Historic Grand Prix, Season 5
I think that Round 1 went fairly well, a lot of new faces, good feedback about the car / track choices and most importantly, the racing itself. Switzerland had a generally positive debut into the RDHGP schedule.
It seems that the people who had a less than perfect race were more frustrated by missing out on the racing that was available, rather than by any lack of points return, and that is very encouraging, and augurs well for the rest of the season.
I received no Incident Reports (a good thing, imo), but as we are still working things out and getting re-attuned to League protocols, a few items came up that I’d like to just remind you all about again. Nothing too bad, merely a reminder of the expected behaviour as we move from the very much Happy-Go-Lucky world of the GTL Club, to the only slightly more serious GTL League.
Circuit Notes
Ring Knutstorp is a short course circuit situated in Kågeröd, in the extreme south of Sweden. It is approx 40 km from Helsingborg, which itself sits on the Øresund – the strait between Sweden and Denmark. The name will no doubt put some extra expectation on one of our drivers... Torp (I am reliably informed) means “Croft” or small farm.
Knutstorp first opened in 1963, with a shorter layout & length of just 1.1km (0.7 miles), the original track comprising of the “middle third” of the current circuit. It was extended in 1970 to double the length – 2.2km / 1.4 miles – and then altered again in 1979, although less drastically, the reprofiling of a single corner slightly dropping the length to 2.1km / 1.3 miles, and the circuit we will be driving.
Like so many of the Scandinavian circuits, Knutstorp packs a heavyweight punch from a bantamweight size. 13 corners in a short, just over 1 minute lap, where no corner is really like any other, testing bravery, patience and set up. Again, like Neuveville, it has the “must-have” feature for me - well implemented and utilised gradient.
Knutstorp starts with a relatively short straight, with the S/F line near the beginning of it rather than towards the end, so much so that some of the lower placed qualifiers will find themselves lining up around the last bend rather than on the straight itself. Knutstorp sets it’s stall out almost immediately with T1R and T2R, Startkurvan. T1R is a simple and fast corner, but that actually increases the degree of difficulty rather than simplifies it as, once negotiated, the much tighter T2R immediately forces some heavy braking to get round it, but is itself followed by a “straight”, so exit is all important. To get it right, there is a delicate balance of speed through T1R, enough early braking to negotiate T2R (while braking late enough to not get passed yourself), and a good exit onto the straight to maintain momentum.
T3R, & T4L are gentle curves, that gently dip and then climb again, all the while under heavy acceleration. These are great fun to throw the car through, but are almost sucker punches, designed to get you on the edge of control for the extremely tricky T5R, Krönet.
Krönet (I’m no amateur linguist, but I’m guessing something to do with crowns here) is a blind crest, and extremely deceptive. You can see some track rising beyond that blind crest, and it looks almost like a straight, but once you actually clear the crest, you see that the turn goes further right than you thought, and that there’s a medium-quick speed left (T6L) at the bottom before you reach that straight. Most off circuit excursions, and therefore most Stop & Go penalties, will be caused by this little complex.
T7L is a tight, climbing, uphill lefthander, where it is very easy to outbrake yourself and lose whatever momentum you managed to carry through the Krönet & T6L complex. You accelerate up the slope until you reach the crest, when it’s time for some heavy braking into the corner that will test your set-up and patience more than any other.
T8R, Hårnålen, is a tight, constant radius hairpin, which feels like it takes forever to get round. There is no camber on the corner, so any impatient acceleration will likely result in a spin, and a far more costly (in time terms) recovery process. Exiting Hårnålen, there is a short blast on the downhill straight (running parallel to the uphill one that was the Entry) and into T9L, an off-camber 90º left hander that can be attacked quite aggressively.
Another short straight follows, itself followed again by heavy braking into T10R, a 90º right hander. This in turn leads into a short downhill squirt which culminates in T11R, Liton.
Liton was the corner that was re-profiled to shorten the track in 1979, and while it is now slower to negotiate itself than it’s old shape, the re-profiling means that once the initial corner is cleared, the final complex can be attacked much more aggressively.
T12L is a shallow left hander, taken with a dab of brakes or a lift between hard acceleration, which then opens out onto the short stretch of road where the back of the grid may begun their race, out of sight of the Start/Finish line, and the final turn T13R, a fast kink onto the straight and over the line.
And that is the very essence of Knutstorp – a gallon of fun in a pint sized glass.
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.
· T5R – Krönet. As per the description, this curve is a splendid deception of crests, dips and foreshortening perspective. There is likely to be a few offs in this area, so be prepared if you are following someone closely for them to go off, and try to re-enter the track. If they do not do so safely, please file report. Additionally, there is a likelihood of contact through here if emergency measures are taken by drivers. Drivers being forced off track here is not going to win you any friends.
· T8R – Hårnålen. The very flat nature of the hairpin will induce some spins by the impatient. Again, be prepared if you are following closely, as there is a possibility of people spinning and coming to rest bang in the middle of the track. Also again, if you yourself spin, manouever in as safe a way as possible, do NOT try and respin yourself while there is oncoming traffic. If you have to wait until the back of the pack before you can SAFELY move, so be it.
· T10R – No Name 90º. There are close barriers around this corner, which can easily throw a stricken car around and onto the racing line.
· All points on the track – General Items
There are 2 “No-show” infractions now being levied on Drivers after Round 1.
Fernando Rees
Michal Mroczek
There has been an alteration to the Non-Reporting, No-Show infraction procedure, as detailed at length in the Intro & Info Thread, which means that the infraction will only be carried for 1 race instead of 4, and will then be rescinded. Any further No-Shows from the time the infraction is lifted onwards will result in removal from the League.
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.)
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 RDHGP event. Every driver has a unique livery in this season of RDHGP.
Scoring System
I have extended the points distribution method 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
I think that Round 1 went fairly well, a lot of new faces, good feedback about the car / track choices and most importantly, the racing itself. Switzerland had a generally positive debut into the RDHGP schedule.
It seems that the people who had a less than perfect race were more frustrated by missing out on the racing that was available, rather than by any lack of points return, and that is very encouraging, and augurs well for the rest of the season.
I received no Incident Reports (a good thing, imo), but as we are still working things out and getting re-attuned to League protocols, a few items came up that I’d like to just remind you all about again. Nothing too bad, merely a reminder of the expected behaviour as we move from the very much Happy-Go-Lucky world of the GTL Club, to the only slightly more serious GTL League.
- Do not sit on track typing your chat in Practice, even if you think you're in a "safe" place. Escape back to the pits and do it if you want to chat. A stationary car can be a nasty surprise for people suddenly encountering it, and a stationary Driver Name Tag is another distraction, all of which can cause issues for people for no real reason.
- No Chat During Qualifying. That includes when the timer drops to 00:00, as it doesn't roll to Race straight away, and people could still be on a lap.
- No Chat until all drivers have finished their race, which is not necessarily the same time that you finish your race.
- After an accident, if your car is particularly damaged / undriveable, stay off the racing line while you assess the damage, and quit as soon as you realise that your car will not be controllable or on the pace to be safe enough to get back to the pits for repairs.
- No light flashing during the Race. Some people mentioned to me that they thought they saw some. As there were no official reports, this is just a reminder.
Circuit Notes
Ring Knutstorp is a short course circuit situated in Kågeröd, in the extreme south of Sweden. It is approx 40 km from Helsingborg, which itself sits on the Øresund – the strait between Sweden and Denmark. The name will no doubt put some extra expectation on one of our drivers... Torp (I am reliably informed) means “Croft” or small farm.
Knutstorp first opened in 1963, with a shorter layout & length of just 1.1km (0.7 miles), the original track comprising of the “middle third” of the current circuit. It was extended in 1970 to double the length – 2.2km / 1.4 miles – and then altered again in 1979, although less drastically, the reprofiling of a single corner slightly dropping the length to 2.1km / 1.3 miles, and the circuit we will be driving.
Like so many of the Scandinavian circuits, Knutstorp packs a heavyweight punch from a bantamweight size. 13 corners in a short, just over 1 minute lap, where no corner is really like any other, testing bravery, patience and set up. Again, like Neuveville, it has the “must-have” feature for me - well implemented and utilised gradient.
Knutstorp starts with a relatively short straight, with the S/F line near the beginning of it rather than towards the end, so much so that some of the lower placed qualifiers will find themselves lining up around the last bend rather than on the straight itself. Knutstorp sets it’s stall out almost immediately with T1R and T2R, Startkurvan. T1R is a simple and fast corner, but that actually increases the degree of difficulty rather than simplifies it as, once negotiated, the much tighter T2R immediately forces some heavy braking to get round it, but is itself followed by a “straight”, so exit is all important. To get it right, there is a delicate balance of speed through T1R, enough early braking to negotiate T2R (while braking late enough to not get passed yourself), and a good exit onto the straight to maintain momentum.
T3R, & T4L are gentle curves, that gently dip and then climb again, all the while under heavy acceleration. These are great fun to throw the car through, but are almost sucker punches, designed to get you on the edge of control for the extremely tricky T5R, Krönet.
Krönet (I’m no amateur linguist, but I’m guessing something to do with crowns here) is a blind crest, and extremely deceptive. You can see some track rising beyond that blind crest, and it looks almost like a straight, but once you actually clear the crest, you see that the turn goes further right than you thought, and that there’s a medium-quick speed left (T6L) at the bottom before you reach that straight. Most off circuit excursions, and therefore most Stop & Go penalties, will be caused by this little complex.
T7L is a tight, climbing, uphill lefthander, where it is very easy to outbrake yourself and lose whatever momentum you managed to carry through the Krönet & T6L complex. You accelerate up the slope until you reach the crest, when it’s time for some heavy braking into the corner that will test your set-up and patience more than any other.
T8R, Hårnålen, is a tight, constant radius hairpin, which feels like it takes forever to get round. There is no camber on the corner, so any impatient acceleration will likely result in a spin, and a far more costly (in time terms) recovery process. Exiting Hårnålen, there is a short blast on the downhill straight (running parallel to the uphill one that was the Entry) and into T9L, an off-camber 90º left hander that can be attacked quite aggressively.
Another short straight follows, itself followed again by heavy braking into T10R, a 90º right hander. This in turn leads into a short downhill squirt which culminates in T11R, Liton.
Liton was the corner that was re-profiled to shorten the track in 1979, and while it is now slower to negotiate itself than it’s old shape, the re-profiling means that once the initial corner is cleared, the final complex can be attacked much more aggressively.
T12L is a shallow left hander, taken with a dab of brakes or a lift between hard acceleration, which then opens out onto the short stretch of road where the back of the grid may begun their race, out of sight of the Start/Finish line, and the final turn T13R, a fast kink onto the straight and over the line.
And that is the very essence of Knutstorp – a gallon of fun in a pint sized glass.
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.
· T5R – Krönet. As per the description, this curve is a splendid deception of crests, dips and foreshortening perspective. There is likely to be a few offs in this area, so be prepared if you are following someone closely for them to go off, and try to re-enter the track. If they do not do so safely, please file report. Additionally, there is a likelihood of contact through here if emergency measures are taken by drivers. Drivers being forced off track here is not going to win you any friends.
· T8R – Hårnålen. The very flat nature of the hairpin will induce some spins by the impatient. Again, be prepared if you are following closely, as there is a possibility of people spinning and coming to rest bang in the middle of the track. Also again, if you yourself spin, manouever in as safe a way as possible, do NOT try and respin yourself while there is oncoming traffic. If you have to wait until the back of the pack before you can SAFELY move, so be it.
· T10R – No Name 90º. There are close barriers around this corner, which can easily throw a stricken car around and onto the racing line.
· All points on the track – General Items
No lights are to be flashed at any stage, under any circumstances, during the race.
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.
This is likely to be one of the longer 100km races of the season with relatively low average speeds, so be prepared, and adjust your driving accordingly.
Incidents, Investigations and PenaltiesThe 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.
This is likely to be one of the longer 100km races of the season with relatively low average speeds, so be prepared, and adjust your driving accordingly.
There are 2 “No-show” infractions now being levied on Drivers after Round 1.
Fernando Rees
Michal Mroczek
There has been an alteration to the Non-Reporting, No-Show infraction procedure, as detailed at length in the Intro & Info Thread, which means that the infraction will only be carried for 1 race instead of 4, and will then be rescinded. Any further No-Shows from the time the infraction is lifted onwards will result in removal from the League.
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.)
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 RDHGP event. Every driver has a unique livery in this season of RDHGP.
Scoring System
I have extended the points distribution method 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
These are simple rules. I don't care what other leagues do or allow, I've laid out the rules that I use clearly, in the "Intro & Info" thread, and in each race briefing.
