Adelaide Mini

One of my cats knocked over a full drink onto my keyboard, had to bail.

Strange race for me did a 136.4 in 1st practice then game crashed :/ couldnt seem to find the right balance in my setup after that because I didnt save it before the crash.
q 6th and was 4th untill keith's accident, was just happy to make the podium after nursing the car round for 30 mins.

Well as most of us are aware there was confusion and clarification as to what the deemed outline of the track was. The V8SC and 'track' line goes over the yellow lines to the walls, however the R2P / NASA rulebook as stated by the officials before the race deemed this was illegal. Happy to say that 13 or so plus drivers followed the R2P rules for the track. However there were quite a few drivers that voided the stated track outlines, and they will be filed as doing so with the proper format for review. Just want to reassure the drivers who followed the stated path for the entire race, as I did, that they did not hinder their lap times and pace for no reason. 84 infractions have already been found and I have 1 or 2 corners still to look into.

Troy, please keep in mind that 2 conditions must be met to be considered an infraction; 1) Use of off-track area, and 2) an advantage must be gained.

A driver that has run off-course and has NOT gained an advantage (gave position back, did not gain postion, etc) is NOT in violation of any rule.

I recommend fine tuning your protest to reflect only those cases in which BOTH conditions are met.

Absolutely understood Offical, however the 2nd condition 'has' to include advantages of speed (thus lap time) as well, correct? If a driver is exiting the 'marked' course to increase speed and time through particular corners consistently then this must be considered an advantage. You may not be gaining a position right off the bat in doing so, however it is a huge advantage in terms of speed / lap time and thus the driver in question may be increasing, maintaining, or closing a gap to another driver by consistently driving outside of the marked course that he/she would not have been able to do if he/she was staying inside the lines and was running within the same boundaries as the other drivers. Several tenths of pace advantage lap after lap is not fair to drivers who were staying within the course.

Some drivers took to the outside of the marked course to carry much more speed through critical parts of the track. There is no question that running wide after turns 5 and 6, running wide just before the kink, or cutting across the center of the chicane like it's not even there equate to faster lap times, a 'huge' advantage in all forms of racing.

My intention is not to mark every single time 4 wheels were outside the lines. If drivers are obviously not gaining an advantage (ie driver is obviously struggling with the car/track) or it was a simple mistake that the driver just slide off the course or just ran wide one particular time then I will of course not protest these. However drivers whose 'consistent' driving line went outside the marked course on purpose to maintain faster speeds and they made no effort to prevent it lap after lap after lap, then this is an obvious advantage gained by use of an off-track area on purpose. These instances are what I will be filing protest.

@Keith: Neil Larson and I are compiling a Racer's Excuse Handbook. That one's definitely going in there.

And good to see you 'round here.

Great racing, it seemed myself and Keith had the pace of the field and Keith had a couple of tenths on me.

Thought i had done enough in quali for pole but then Keith pipped it.

I didn't get a great start but settled down in 2nd and for the first half of the race had good consistent pace keeping with keith trying to put him under pressure. Then I lost concentration and went straight on at my least favourite corner, the second to last left hander, letting tristan through bu 6 secs!

Then Keith disappeared, but good excuse keith! I was then trying to catch Tristan who seemed to have worked well to get a good race pace, my tyres were going off and then he spun at the 1st chicane, i missed him by millimeteres and then just concetrated o staying on for the last 5 mins or so.

Good race everyone! See you next time.

As Playteam owner and as Fernando Silva mate I wonder if the so called “justice” for this race final result was made…
Someone wrote:

“drivers whose 'consistent' driving line went outside the marked course on purpose to maintain faster speeds and they made no effort to prevent it lap after lap after lap, then this is an obvious advantage gained by use of an off-track area on purpose. These instances are what I will be filing protest.”

I agree with that 100%, but I wonder if this was really made. After Fernando’s penalty I also saw the replay, and after what it was written here after the race and seeing that only Fernando and one more driver were indeed penalized, many adjectives come to my mind and one of them is: distorted. Fernando didn’t deserve this. Fernando is a clean and fair driver and he didn’t deserve to be penalized as an infractor at this race, even more after what I saw in the replay, which in fact distorted the final race result. Drivers that “abused” of the yellow lines much more than Fernando and yet it seems people don’t do what they write and the real objective wasn’t to make the race result fair. I’m not complaining “against” Race2Play staff, which acts according to the protests received. To end I just want to say that I understand the concern of some with Fernando and Playteam. The replay is available to everyone to see, starting from the top drivers to the tail of the field.
Like I said, unfair and distorted.
Best regards.
And above all, have fun and be fair.

Just to be clear; The protest that were filed were reviewed. The protests regarding a driver running wide did not show that the driver(s) gained any advantage by doing so (in fact, most were clearly SLOWER than their competitors).

The penalties applid were for cutting across the T1/T2 chicanes, shortening the course and gaining clear advantages to their competitors, even completing passes by going off-course.

Ok. Thank you. I understand that.

This track demands more care next time.

Best regards.