New to rally racing. A couple questions...

Rob Carr · Oct 30, 2010

Hey guys I am new to rally racing and RBR as well. I see that there are rallies here every week on Monday and Tuesday. A few questions.

1. Do you have to start the rally at a specific time or is there a window to race within?

2. Do you have to finish by a specific time?

3. Do you have to run the stages one after the other in succession, or can you take a break in between?

Sorry for the basic questions but I didn't see these specific questions answered in the FAQ.

Aaron DeMarre · Oct 30, 2010

1) You have to start the rally at the time listed, but the admins will set up a time that works for you as long as it is within the Monday/Tuesday time frame (GMT I am guessing).

2/3) You run the stages in succession, but there is a small break in between each stage if you wish to take it. The time builds up as you run the rally if you don't use it tho, so what I do in the middle of a long rally is take a 10 min break to refresh a bit. If you do not start the next stage before the timer is up you DNF that stage.

Feel free to ask away if you have any more questions!

Warren Dawes · Oct 30, 2010

Rob Carr said:
1. Do you have to start the rally at a specific time or is there a window to race within? .

Using RSRBR2010 for our on-line Rally Events, we set up Rallys to start at a specific time. However, we try to be as flexible as possible by setting up the Rallys to begin at different timezones. eg. We always have European Rally's starting at 20.00GMT Monday, USA is 3.00GMT, and Oceania at 9.30 GMT Tuesday. We then, often, set up additional rally Start times on Monday / Tuesday to suit specific requests if those times don't suit someone. We try to be as flexible as possible, however, it usually best if most drivers run the same Rally (Start Time) because then they get to see how they are progressing compared to others in that rally. The more drivers you see in your on-line session, the more enjoyable it can be.

Rob Carr said:
2. Do you have to finish by a specific time?

In each Rally, you must start at the set time, but you are then allowed a set time to complete each Stage. If you finish the Stage early (which is usually the case) then you can continue to the next Stage immediately, or wait till the set start time for the next Stage, or anywhere in between. So, depending on when you start and finish each Stage, you can vary how long the whole Rally will take. If you don't finish a Stage within the allowed time (which is quite generous), you are given a default penalty time for that Stage.

Rob Carr said:
3. Do you have to run the stages one after the other in succession, or can you take a break in between?

As described above, it is fairly flexible. yes you can take a break between Stages, but you need to be careful to return before the default start time for the next Stage. If you miss it, you can run the following Stage, but will receive a penalty time for the missed stage.

I hope this helps, it is not easy to explain it in very simple terms, but it is quite flexible.
We have a basic Tutorial for RSRBR2010 which may also help:
http://www.racedepartment.com/richard-burns-rally/31893-tutorial-playing-rsrbr2010-on-line.html

The best way to get familiar with it is to just join one of our Rally Club Events, hop on teamspeak if possible, and ask more questions if needed.

Please feel free to ask again if it is still not clear, and we'd love to have you join us any time.

EDIT: Aaron posted at the same time as me, fortunately we both said the same thing, lool.

Warren Dawes · Oct 30, 2010

deleted, double post.

Warren Dawes · Oct 30, 2010

Rob, another additional way to get a feel for how a on-line rally works, is to set up your own Rally on the Server, which is described in this Tutorial:
http://www.racedepartment.com/richard-burns-rally/31893-tutorial-playing-rsrbr2010-on-line.html
Then you can run a test rally at your own leisure.

Alternatively, we can set up a test Rally for you to run before you run a Club rally, just let us know.

Rob Carr · Oct 31, 2010

Thanks for the help Warren (and Aaron). I really appreciate it guys. Warren, I also appreciate your offer to setup a test Rally for us. That would be very cool. I think the next time I'll be on is Monday around 10pm mountain, so if that is doable I would be much obliged. BTW, I have a good mate from Queensland who will be joining me. We are both just getting into RBR. We usually race Monday - Wednesday from 10pm mountain until around midnight. That's 2pm his/your time (I believe). I know that is a narrow window, but what are the odds of the two of us starting a rally around that time? Also, how long do these things take? Are we talking a couple hours or what?

Senad Subasic · Oct 31, 2010

Rob Carr said:
Thanks for the help Warren (and Aaron). I really appreciate it guys. Warren, I also appreciate your offer to setup a test Rally for us. That would be very cool. I think the next time I'll be on is Monday around 10pm mountain, so if that is doable I would be much obliged. BTW, I have a good mate from Queensland who will be joining me. We are both just getting into RBR. We usually race Monday - Wednesday from 10pm mountain until around midnight. That's 2pm his/your time (I believe). I know that is a narrow window, but what are the odds of the two of us starting a rally around that time? Also, how long do these things take? Are we talking a couple hours or what?

It's very flexible, a session can be created at any time. Just say when you want it when you sign up.

As far as rally length is concerned, you can always check some previous results, like: http://www.racedepartment.com/rbr-r...th-tues-19th-october-2010-a-9.html#post633609 - 37 minutes of driving for the winner.
If you include some breaks along the way, or banter on Teamspeak, it's about an hour I guess. Depends on the car speed, stage length, how good or bad you're driving...

It's always 8 stages in club rallies.

Rob Carr · Oct 31, 2010

Hey thanks Senad. I just found the results on the forum and was looking through them. I think you guys have 2 new recruits! Is there any kind of overall championship or are they pretty much standalone races? Sorry for all the questions. I really don't know anything about rally, or how it normally works.

Warren Dawes · Oct 31, 2010

Rob,
Yes, I can set up a test rally for you and your mate (anything for a fellow Queenslander :wink: ).
To be sure, I think we have our time conversions correct, ie: Monday 10PM Mountain is 2PM Queensland Tuesday, or 4.00 GMT Tuesday.

As a test I can set one up using all or part of our Rally for next week's "Rally of Great Britain" for you. Or if you want something different, just let me know.

In terms of how long a Rally might take, our Rally Club Events are usually 8 Stages and take about 45 mins to 1 hour from sign in to sign out, depending on how long you spend between Stages. Our Rally Championship Rounds (one per month at the moment) are usually longer, maybe about one hour to 1.5 hours.

Just let me know what you want set up for a test on the Server, which day, and time, and I (or Senad) will do our best to organise it.

EDIT: Yes we currently have a rally Championship under way, every 4th week, as well as our normal Rally Club Events each week. The Club Rallys are independent stand alone Rallys.

Senad Subasic · Oct 31, 2010

Rob Carr said:
Hey thanks Senad. I just found the results on the forum and was looking through them. I think you guys have 2 new recruits! Is there any kind of overall championship or are they pretty much standalone races? Sorry for all the questions. I really don't know anything about rally, or how it normally works.

Rick Bamford started a Rally championship here a couple of months ago, 3rd round was held earlier this week: http://www.racedepartment.com/rd-rally-championship/

As far as club rallies go, Warren keeps statistics of rally winners, but they are primarily for fun and bragging rights

They also have championships on the rallyesim website, if I'm not mistaken, but I have no idea how those work.

Warren Dawes · Oct 31, 2010

Senad Subasic said:
As far as club rallies go, Warren keeps statistics of rally winners, but they are primarily for fun and bragging rights

Lol about the bragging rights.
Our Club Rallys are purely for fun, and for people to learn about RBR. If you have some good crashes (which we all do in this Sim) you can have them recorded here at RD in our infamous after rally video's. Check them out in the RBR Movies section:
http://www.racedepartment.com/richard-burns-rally/20046-rbr-movies.html

Some of our drivers are becoming cult figures with their epic crash sequences (hey Ondrej, :tongue:

).

Łukasz Demolin · Oct 31, 2010

Senad Subasic said:
As far as club rallies go, Warren keeps statistics of rally winners, but they are primarily for fun and bragging rights

Maybe one day they could be included in the RD ranking system? That'd be neat

Senad Subasic · Oct 31, 2010

Łukasz Demolin said:
Maybe one day they could be included in the RD ranking system? That'd be neat

I hope, I think I finished in front of Dariusz once :eek:. Ranking points galore! :woot:

Warren has been sending Dave and Eric all results, hopefully they'll be included someday.

Rob Carr · Oct 31, 2010

Thanks guys! I can't ever remember meeting a more helpful bunch of guys online. Really appreciate it. Okay the rally format sounds perfect so let me talk to Mal and see what time works best for him. But I am thinking 11pm mountain on Monday would be ideal. I'll talk to him tomorrow and firm it up. Seeing as we have no experience or practice with any of the stages for this event we'll have to test our setup Monday before the rally. Any chance we could get a test server with all the stages up so we can do it around 10pm mountain on Monday? Then we can make sure we are good for the rally at 11pm. I don't think he and I will be able to test it before then.

Thanks again for all your help guys!

Warren Dawes · Oct 31, 2010

Rob Carr said:
Any chance we could get a test server with all the stages up so we can do it around 10pm mountain on Monday? Then we can make sure we are good for the rally at 11pm.

Certainly, no problem. I'll set it up soon and let you know what it is called etc.
Do you have access to the Rally club Event sign-up thread?:
http://www.racedepartment.com/rbr-r...britain-mon-1st-tues-2nd-november-2010-a.html

It lists all of the details for you, eg. Stages, conditions, car pack, mods required, etc.

Warren Dawes · Oct 31, 2010

I have set up a test rally on the Server, it is not password protected, so anyone can join it. The actual RD Rally will be passworded.
Details as follows:

Name: RD Test Rally GB
Car Pack: A8_1
Stages: As per RD Rally Club, "Rally of Great Britain"
Start: 5.00 GMT Tuesday. ie. 10PM USA Mountain Time Monday, 2PM Australia Queensland Time Tuesday.

Please read the full details from the Rally Club Event post to ensure you have the latest RSRBR2010 Updates, Car Pack for A8_1, and the BTB Stage 2 for the Sweet Lamb Stage.

Good luck and let me know if you need any changes.