RD Star Mazda Series - Season 1 (Archive)

[Will Marquez]

RACEDEPARTMENT Star Mazda Series

Must be a licensed member.
http://www.racedepartment.com/application-rules/


Season 1

Round 1: Indianapolis Motor Speedaway - Road Course -- March 20th
Round 2: Watkins Glen - Boot -- April 3rd
Round 3: Charlotte Motor Speedway - Road Course -- April 17th
Round 4: Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca - May 1st
Round 5: Brands Hatch GP -- May 15th
Round 6: Road Atlanta - Full Course -- May 29th
Round 7: Circuit de SPA Francorchamps - GP Pits -- June 12th
Round 8: Daytona International Speedway - Road Course -- June 26th

*Number of Laps will be posted in race thread
***Dates subject to change

Race Schedule:

Racing Sim: iRacing

Cars: Star Mazda

Setups: Open

Hosted Event Server name: RaceDepartment.com Star Mazda Series

Official Practice: 2 hrs before the event 18:30pm GMT / 1:30pm EST / 10:30pm PST
Registration end is 20:30pm GMT / 3:30pm EST / 12:30pm PST
***Please be in the hosted event server before this time.

Qualification - Lone qualifier (2 continuous hotlaps)
Race - Standing Start
Grid Max - 34 drivers (36 drivers after Round 1)
Fast tows - 1

Points:
P1 - 50 pts
P2 - 40
P3 - 35
P4 - 31
P5 - 30
P6 - 29
P7 - 28
P8 - 27
P9 - 26
P10 - 25
P11 - 24
P12 - 23
P13 - 22
P14 - 21
P15 - 20
P16 - 19
P17 - 18
P18 - 17
P19 - 16
P20 – 15
P21 – 14
P22 – 13
P23 – 12
P24 – 11
P25 – 10
P26 – 9
P27 – 8
P28 – 7
P29 - 6
P30 - 5
P31 - 4
P32 - 3
P33 - 2
P34 - 1

Pole Position: 5 points
Fastest Lap: 5 points
Most laps led: 5 points

Drop Races: There will be two (2) drop races available throughout the season to allow for real life commitments. The RD Star Mazda Staff understand that things may come up but please make sure before signing up that you will at least be able to attend six (6) out of the eight (8) races.

Incidents, Investigations and Penalties:
Please remember, the League staff will only review the first lap of each race as standard procedure - any other incidents must be reported before any review will be undertaken.

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. Send a PM to either Will Marquez, Kevin Watts, Abdul Ahmed or William Nowell. 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. We simply will NOT tolerate any post race finger pointing.

First lap penalty: If a driver causes an incident on the first lap of the race resulting in a major damage to another car, he will start from pitlane in the next race entered.

Blue flag: The driver receiving the blue flag is responsible of moving out of the racing line and give way to the lapping car as early as possible. In most situations, the driver receiving the blue flag will be deemed at fault in case of an incident with a front runner unless the incident is caused by the lapping driver's negligence.

Making contact from behind: In most situations a driver causing an incident by making contact from behind will be found guilty and penalized (a blue flag situation is one of the exceptions).

No Shows: If a driver does not post that they will not be attending a certain race. That will be considered a no show. Two or more no shows and the RD Star Mazda Series Staff can possibly remove that driver from league. Please if you are unable to attend a race, a simple post stating that you cannot attend will suffice.

 

[Sam Peacock]

things were going great for me on the first two laps, then a lapped car coming out of the pits on lap 3 decided to block me and then hit me :/ didnt think the damage was to bad till i got to the long left hander and the car just let go. had good fun catching up again tho.

im not protesting the incident but the lapped driver should have known to get the hell outa the way of the leaders :/

 

[Scott Malcolm]

Kinda surprised with my result.Never been in a race with this car only offline practise sessions. I knew all week I would be off the pace so I just ran my own race and make sure I missed any incidents.

Congrats to Lars and the rest of the podium. Looking forward to the next race.

 

[Eric Estes]

Qualified 16th, time was not what I was hoping for. Had a little off on lap 2 - it didn't count the lap, but did give me the time from my first lap (didn't it behave differently before - DQ'ing the whole qual?).

Start was ok. Got slowed down enough to miss everyone in T1, we threaded through there ok - thought I was going to be ok in T3 but couldn't avoid a red car coming back across track and crossed up the suspension.

Sort of fortunate, as that allowed me to realize I still had qually fuel, so added a few litres during the stop (which also helped miss the minor mayhem leaving the pits).

If you look at the replay at 8:18, George and Anthony get into each other, one stays outside and one goes inside, but they both cross. I hammer down and thread the needle so close that I get a 4x, even though I was not affected at all. Final P12 due to attrition, remainder of the race was steady laps, though the car was a bit slower (that fix must not be 100%, I was going maybe 100m more into the final turn before shifting to 6th - near the apex instead of right after entry).

 

[Kevin Watts]

The rules are quite clear. If you have a complaint you make it in private. DO NOT enter into conversations where you point the finger or criticize others publicly either in the forums or in the after race text and voice chat. Cool down, walk away from your PC and go and review the replay later if need be. I think thats precisely what some of you should have done tonight.

Congratulations to Lars for winning the first round. It was a lot of fun and despite the earlier than originally scheduled start a good turn out so thanks to everyone who took part.

 

[Will Marquez]

Thanks for posting that reminder Kevin.

Let me remind everyone that this is racing and yes things do happen on track. This is information is posted in the rules and info that everyone has agreed upon.

Public rants will not be tolerated after the race. Posts of these nature will be deleted and a warning will be given to people involved.

No report = no investigation = no penalty*

A report can be sent to the RD Star Mazda Staff (Kevin Watts, Will Marquez, Abdul Ahmed and William Nowell) by private message. It must always contain:

* The name of the reported driver (the violator)
* Replay lap# of the incident
* A short description of the incident, without rant

You must always send the report with your own forum account. You can only send a report if you were actually in the race. Report from outsider will be not be considered.

The staff will then investigate the incident.

Reports must be sent after at least a 24 hour cool down period, within no more than 2 days of the finish of the race. Reports that come in too late might not be considered.

 

[Sam Peacock]

i'm not making a complaint, just stated how my race went.
congrats Lars

 

[Pedro van Baelen]

looks like my comment is deleted

and it wasn't any rant or how u call it
it was my statement about this race and it will be the same tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that

 

[Sam Peacock]

Watkins glen next time, woohooo my favorite track hehe. roll on April 3rd!!

 

[Eric Estes]

Well, now I know why my car was slower (picture 4 damage left over from T3) - this was as close a near miss as you will find, I think:

 

[Nathan Robinson]

That was me sam and i'm sorry you saw it that way. I may have not pulled off the track and let you by, but i certainly wasn't blocking you. Just waiting for a safe place to let you by but your agressiveness caused the contact. Nothing to do with me Yes, you were going to put me a lap down but you're not parting the seas out there, please be more patient

 

[Will Marquez]

Round 1 - Indianapolis Road Course

Race Replay: www.catalinasgrace.com/mystuff/rd/RDSMS_RD1_IndyRoad.rar

 

[Will Marquez]

Round 1 Official Race Results
http://members.iracing.com/membersite/member/EventResult.do?&subsessionid=3256518&custid=21324

Official Overall Point Standings after Round 1
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc...U25pOGc&authkey=CNez_MEG&hl=en_GB&pli=1#gid=1

 

[Sam Peacock]

apology accepted, but u should look at it from my view, i had second place rite up my Ass and its the lapped cars responsibility to get out of the way as quickly as possible, all you had to do was stay left and let us by. we both had a clear path threw on your inside which was safe and you kinda closed it when i got there. if u have the replay watch it from my onboard.
All kinda random things happen in race's and i know this. thats why i don't protest things. apology accepted just try not to do it again unless im the guy in second
catchya next race

edit, re-read your post, you say the contact had nothing to do with you? i was racing for the lead with second rite behind, of course i was eger to get by, there was a safe passage threw the inside, you closed it mid corner, therefore it did have somthing to do with you ;-)
And there was me being diplomatic :/

 

[Dazmaniac]

I haven't seen the replay of other folks' incidents, but when it comes to blue flags, they don't signify that the car about to be lapped has to immediately pullover. Its a warning for him that there are cars approaching about to put him a further lap down. There has to be a bit of give and take.

It may not always be safe to move aside at the very next corner, as this may only cause further problems, so the quicker cars need to have a little patience and not just expect to be allowed to muscle their way through at the earliest convenience, as this may not always be the best and safest place to make the move.

On the flip side, the car being lapped needs to be aware of his position and the cars behind him (mirrors, spotter and F3 black box all need to be made use of) and decide how soon he wants to let them pass.

I prefer cars being lapped to try and maintain the racing line and move aside when its relatively safe to do so, instead of suddenly braking/swerving mid corner and trying to get out of the way.

Sometimes, it seems some irRacers feel every corner is an overtaking opportunity, and I'm sure you'll find that IRL drivers don't see it this way. They have a number of corners which they would see as passing places and also others they do not.

 

[Kevin Watts]

It has been made quite clear how to deal with protests. This forum is not the place for post race recriminations. Either follow the guidelines set out by the racing staff and report an incident or let it go the choice is yours but the next member to continue this public finger pointing will be suspended from the next race. Can I be any clearer than that?

 

[Will Marquez]

Unofficial Race Results and Overall Point Standings have been posted here: http://www.racedepartment.com/iraci...ment-star-mazda-series-standings-results.html

Race replay for Round 1 here: http://www.racedepartment.com/iraci...epartment-star-mazda-series-race-replays.html

 

[Eric Estes]

Will, could you maybe add a column for Standing? For a second I thought I was 16th and had lost a few spots because I was looking at the spreadsheet row numbers .

 

[Karl Brankin]

Mixed experience for me. Not quite got to grips with this car or track yet. Started 13th after a poor qualy. 1st lap of 1:27.2 and on a much better lap on my 2nd try until I spun in the slow chicane. So pleased to start 13th after a poor lap really - obviously others had similar problems too.

Got a decent start off the line but saw cars 3 wide in front heading toward the 1st corner so braked early and held back - threaded through incidents on each of the 1st 3 corners.

After a few laps ended up in 6th pushing Kevin for 5th. Now I pride myself on being a clean racer and don't think I made contact with anyone at all in the MX5 series - I avoid contact as if this series was official and safety rating was counting - Class C 4.32 at present.

I was a little faster than Kevin but managed to clumsily bump into him twice - not good enough - Sorry Kev. I should have allowed for his braking points and lines but I didn't seem to feel at one with the car unlike in the MX5 series. I have since tried a few laps at Watkins Glen with a different setup and it feels a lot better - granted I know that track well too but maybe I was trying to drive Sam's setup without hia skills !

Paid the price for my clumsiness - looks like I didn't cause any bad damaged to Kevin's car - my steering was bent and I took a fast tow - maybe I would have been better off driving into the pits for a repair ? Not worked that system out yet.

So lost the chance of a very good placing throwing away at least 6th and finished 10th overall - that said not too bad considering never raced the car or track before.

Thanks All - when I was nearer the front those being lapped did not cause any problems to me and pulled over. Will M in particular after coming out of the pits then pulled over (and I note worked his way back up nicely).

I did nearly miss the start - it was scheduled to kick off at 20.30 but the clocks haven't changed here in the UK yet so came on with 20 mins until qualy rather than 1hr 20 mins - I needed that extra practice.

Thanks to Will and Kevin for organising this - great fun.

Looking forward to the next race at Watkins Glen - should be a cracker.

 

[Will Marquez]

Will, could you maybe add a column for Standing? For a second I thought I was 16th and had lost a few spots because I was looking at the spreadsheet row numbers .

Sure Eric, I'll see if I can add that into the Standings to avoid the "numbers" confusion.

 

[George Pilkington]

Yahoo Guys... Checked the time and made it into the server for Quali... phew. 18th... Boo.
Fun first few laps , bulk carnage eh...? Must have passed 6 cars in the weeds... Bit more calmness needed me thinks folks...
Only made 3 mistakes during the race, which is good for me. Lol. Enjoyed it, would have liked a few more laps in the pre race practise session... next time. : )

Blue flags. In my oppinion they appear very early. I hardly see the car and the flag is out. Well I just keep going until I can see them firmly behind me then I get off the racing line down the next strait if the guy is near enough. If they ahve voice chat even better, as they tell me when and where they are coming through. Simples.

Thanks see you all in 2 weeks.
George
ps nice stills of the near miss, man that was close!