RaceDepartment Historic Club Series Season 9 Round 5 – The home of Ford. No, hang on…the home of Fjords. That’s right.
Welcome back to Round 5 of the RDHCS Season 9.
Firstly – my apologies for the lateness of this briefing – as some or all of you know, I work for a New York based firm, and it has had some issues in the last week, and that has caused my enforced focus on work rather than the RDHCS.
There were some avoidable accidents in Round4, and avoidable ones are the most frustrating for the victims. People apologised, knowing that they were in the wrong, but I want to see better awareness from people in this race. I stress over and over again about safe re-entries, so it isn’t like drivers are not aware. I would also re-stress the thing I always say about not having arguments in the post-race chats. We got close to it here without crossing the line, and I’d prefer not to get that close again, please.
Like a lot of the races so far this season, Round 4 for me was a case of two steps forward, one step back. Getting into the top 10 and then having a total concentration failure to drop back down to my starting position…well, there seems to be a pattern emerging.
Moving 2,200 miles North North-East, we leave balmy Estoril and swap shorts, flappy shirts and espedrilles for long-johns, heavy boots and elaborate wooly hats as we return to the site of one of the best races of previous seasons – Round 3, Season 5, fact fans – The Arctic Circle Raceway in Mo I Rana, Norway.
Circuit Notes
The Arctic Circle Raceway is situated (perhaps unsurprisingly considering the name) just 20 miles South of the Arctic Circle in Northern Norway. It is a 2.3mile / 3.7km track, with a total altitude change from lowest point to highest point of over 100feet / 31m. It is also one of only 2 tracks in our season to run anti-clockwise.
ACR first opened in 1995, and retains the original layout to the current day. Due to it’s extreme Northern location, it has the possibility for 24 hour racing in full daylight because of the midnight sun during the Norwegian Summer.
It is a relatively fast track, generous in width all the way around, allowing a multitude of racing lines to be employed. It places emphasis on high speed sweeps rather than tight turns, but like all the best tracks, it uses gradient to add another degree of difficulty to what appear at first glance to be simple turns. It doesn’t have a jump like both Jops & Knutstorp, but the gradient is extremely cannily used and means that over late braking or over eager acceleration can easily result in loss of control through the corner, or more importantly on exit.
Mo I Rana starts with a good length straight with the S/F line about 50% of the way along. The grid boxes are not particularly tightly packed, which means that some of the lower qualifiers may find themselves starting on the exit of the last hairpin. The straight is long enough on a normal lap that you will be at very nearly full speed as you approach T1L.
T1L drops away and to the left, and is in itself not a tricky corner, although it has the ability to punish drivers who go in too hot. However, it is immediately followed by the climbing and slightly off-camber T2R, so any over indulgence or overambition through T1L will result in a severely compromised T2R, which you can ill afford as it exits onto an uphill straight, where all possible momentum is needed.
T3L needs to be attacked as aggressively as possible, as it is another uphill turn followed by another uphill straight, but then it’s hard on the anchors for T4L. This is the highest point on the track, and is a heavily cambered, cresting hairpin. A good laptime needs T4L to be handled well and cleanly, because the exit begins a long decent under hard acceleration, and any time lost in T4L will be very hard to make up.
The downhill section following T4L begins with a short squirt and into T5R, which some cars will be able to take flat out, and once negotiated, the downhill section continues through T6L, which is really just a kink taken flat out and poses no real problem.
The hard acceleration continues down to the T7R & T8L, the Esses. These are very high speed Esses, guarded on the outside by some very sticky sand. At the end of that straight is one of the best corners on the track, T9L. This is a heavily positive cambered turn that, if you get right, feels glorious, but as with so many of the ACR corners, anybody taking liberties will be punished by sudden loss of grip, compromising their times quite badly. T9L is followed by another downhill straight, which leads up to one of the more testing corners, T10R.
T10R needs to be taken fast, but to be quick through here is difficult, as the fairly high inside kerb will throw you across the track and into the waiting sand if you go too tight. Another downhill straight and you arrive at T11R, the lowest point of the track. Another medium speed, slippery corner, it leads you into the penultimate straight where you start climbing again, before standing on the brakes for the final corner T12L.
A climbing hairpin, it’s difficult to defend if someone is closing in behind you, as it allows various lines through at near optimum speed, so it’s always a test, right to the end of the Race, and complacency will be punished.
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.
T1L & T2R – Especially on Lap1. This is a high speed section and one of the few places on the lap where the track narrows and funnels the pack. People could easily drop a wheel onto the sand and suddenly spin. Be aware of people around you, and of the racing line, as there is a lot of lateral movement through this section. Also 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 6. The difference between this and previous tracks this season is the speed here will be much higher. Excursions off track will be further, so safe re-entries are a must.
T7R & T8L – Esses. The temptation is to straight line these Esses as it is a very fast section of track, especially as the kerbs are so wide here, but all drivers need to make sure that 2 wheels are kept on the track at all times. Please report any persistent and deliberate cutting through this section.
T10R – The kerb can throw people across the track, so you will need to be aware of sudden changes in line from people immediately in front of you.
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 4
There was 1 no no-show in Round 4
Konstantin Paul receives a second no-show infraction, and is removed from the League.
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 5 of the RDHCS Season 9.
Firstly – my apologies for the lateness of this briefing – as some or all of you know, I work for a New York based firm, and it has had some issues in the last week, and that has caused my enforced focus on work rather than the RDHCS.
There were some avoidable accidents in Round4, and avoidable ones are the most frustrating for the victims. People apologised, knowing that they were in the wrong, but I want to see better awareness from people in this race. I stress over and over again about safe re-entries, so it isn’t like drivers are not aware. I would also re-stress the thing I always say about not having arguments in the post-race chats. We got close to it here without crossing the line, and I’d prefer not to get that close again, please.
Like a lot of the races so far this season, Round 4 for me was a case of two steps forward, one step back. Getting into the top 10 and then having a total concentration failure to drop back down to my starting position…well, there seems to be a pattern emerging.
Moving 2,200 miles North North-East, we leave balmy Estoril and swap shorts, flappy shirts and espedrilles for long-johns, heavy boots and elaborate wooly hats as we return to the site of one of the best races of previous seasons – Round 3, Season 5, fact fans – The Arctic Circle Raceway in Mo I Rana, Norway.
Circuit Notes
The Arctic Circle Raceway is situated (perhaps unsurprisingly considering the name) just 20 miles South of the Arctic Circle in Northern Norway. It is a 2.3mile / 3.7km track, with a total altitude change from lowest point to highest point of over 100feet / 31m. It is also one of only 2 tracks in our season to run anti-clockwise.
ACR first opened in 1995, and retains the original layout to the current day. Due to it’s extreme Northern location, it has the possibility for 24 hour racing in full daylight because of the midnight sun during the Norwegian Summer.
It is a relatively fast track, generous in width all the way around, allowing a multitude of racing lines to be employed. It places emphasis on high speed sweeps rather than tight turns, but like all the best tracks, it uses gradient to add another degree of difficulty to what appear at first glance to be simple turns. It doesn’t have a jump like both Jops & Knutstorp, but the gradient is extremely cannily used and means that over late braking or over eager acceleration can easily result in loss of control through the corner, or more importantly on exit.
Mo I Rana starts with a good length straight with the S/F line about 50% of the way along. The grid boxes are not particularly tightly packed, which means that some of the lower qualifiers may find themselves starting on the exit of the last hairpin. The straight is long enough on a normal lap that you will be at very nearly full speed as you approach T1L.
T1L drops away and to the left, and is in itself not a tricky corner, although it has the ability to punish drivers who go in too hot. However, it is immediately followed by the climbing and slightly off-camber T2R, so any over indulgence or overambition through T1L will result in a severely compromised T2R, which you can ill afford as it exits onto an uphill straight, where all possible momentum is needed.
T3L needs to be attacked as aggressively as possible, as it is another uphill turn followed by another uphill straight, but then it’s hard on the anchors for T4L. This is the highest point on the track, and is a heavily cambered, cresting hairpin. A good laptime needs T4L to be handled well and cleanly, because the exit begins a long decent under hard acceleration, and any time lost in T4L will be very hard to make up.
The downhill section following T4L begins with a short squirt and into T5R, which some cars will be able to take flat out, and once negotiated, the downhill section continues through T6L, which is really just a kink taken flat out and poses no real problem.
The hard acceleration continues down to the T7R & T8L, the Esses. These are very high speed Esses, guarded on the outside by some very sticky sand. At the end of that straight is one of the best corners on the track, T9L. This is a heavily positive cambered turn that, if you get right, feels glorious, but as with so many of the ACR corners, anybody taking liberties will be punished by sudden loss of grip, compromising their times quite badly. T9L is followed by another downhill straight, which leads up to one of the more testing corners, T10R.
T10R needs to be taken fast, but to be quick through here is difficult, as the fairly high inside kerb will throw you across the track and into the waiting sand if you go too tight. Another downhill straight and you arrive at T11R, the lowest point of the track. Another medium speed, slippery corner, it leads you into the penultimate straight where you start climbing again, before standing on the brakes for the final corner T12L.
A climbing hairpin, it’s difficult to defend if someone is closing in behind you, as it allows various lines through at near optimum speed, so it’s always a test, right to the end of the Race, and complacency will be punished.
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.
T1L & T2R – Especially on Lap1. This is a high speed section and one of the few places on the lap where the track narrows and funnels the pack. People could easily drop a wheel onto the sand and suddenly spin. Be aware of people around you, and of the racing line, as there is a lot of lateral movement through this section. Also 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 6. The difference between this and previous tracks this season is the speed here will be much higher. Excursions off track will be further, so safe re-entries are a must.
T7R & T8L – Esses. The temptation is to straight line these Esses as it is a very fast section of track, especially as the kerbs are so wide here, but all drivers need to make sure that 2 wheels are kept on the track at all times. Please report any persistent and deliberate cutting through this section.
T10R – The kerb can throw people across the track, so you will need to be aware of sudden changes in line from people immediately in front of you.
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 4
There was 1 no no-show in Round 4
Konstantin Paul receives a second no-show infraction, and is removed from the League.
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
