RACE4Sport Fair Chance is a new league in 2018S2, running a novel format they call "Pursuit Racing with BOP Time". Similar to the Predator Racing format used by the Majors in 2017, and that used in sailboat racing, the format breaks the field into three groups based on an "adjusted" iRating. Group 1 starts normally on the grid. Group 2 (iRating above 1800 but less than 3200) starts from the pits with a 10-15 second delay. Group 3 (above 3200 iRating) also starts from the pits--7-10 seconds after Group 2. According to the League's Founder, Donald Strout, the format is designed to give all drivers a "fair chance" to reach the Podium.
Strout is known as the Founder of the popular 60+ Racing Adventurees League for drivers over 60 years of age. The 60+ league runs the Pro Mazda. The new RACE4Sport league runs the Ferrari 488GTE and the Ford GT GTE cars--on the same schedule as the iRacing IMSA Sportscar Championship. The league has 45 members.
The RACE4Sport Fair Chance League has a generous Prize Pool, paying $20 to the Winner, $10 to 2nd, and $5 to 3rd--for each of the 12 races. Prize money is provided by Strout, personally in support and recognition of Team RFC. http://teamrfc.org/ (Strout is a Christian Chaplain with Team RFC)
Race start--Group 2 and 3 starting from Pits.
The first broadcast for the League was for their race on Thursday, April 19, at Silverstone. It was broadcast by RaceSport.TV and can be seem at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb3Vsf_Y6J0&
Jack Turner earned the Pole for the Grid and led 2 laps before spinning in T7 "Stowe"
Michael Knoll took lead after Turner's spin but was overtaken by Marcos Calvo in lap 5
A result of the Pursuit format is close racing--Tibor Wittmann leads a pack out of T15 "Luffield" in Lap 9
Race winner, Flavio Saturnino takes the lead from Marcos Calvo on Lap 13--halfway thru race. Flavio took to the grass to pass in T7 "Stowe". Flavio would not be challenged for the rest of the race.
Fastest Qualifier, Julien Auffret, Group 3, passes Marcos Calvo on Lap 19. Race podium would be Saturnino, Auffret, and Calvo--All three groups represented.
Fuel was limited to 55% for the 45 minute (27 lap) race, requiring a stop for fuel. Here Victor Suarez Rivero leaves the box in a hurry on Lap 23.
As mentioned, the format promotes close racing, here they go three wide into exiting T14 on Lap 24. Jose Arcones is meat in the sandwich.
Three wide seldom ends well. Bruce Poole goes airborne in a complete roll after making contact with Jose Arcones. Race Steward deemed the incident as "Avoidable but not reckless". According to Strout, "As the Race Admin and Racing Steward, I do not participate as a racer--just in practices. I love driving these Ferrari GTE cars, but by not competing, I have no conflict of interest and can hopefully enforce our rules impartially. One of the things I learned in the 60+ League is guys show up ready and wllling to 'battle' and rules that restrict competition too much spoils the fun. Close racing can often result in unintentional contact. We have strictly enforced rules against dive bombing, but side by side, close but hard racing is what most guys are looking for---as long as all remain friends, then it is fun." An engineer and real life racer, Strout builds "safe but fast" setups for the Ferrari and Ford and shares hot lap videos for the benefit of Group 1 drivers.
In real life racing, "What it Takes to Win" can be organized into six categories, listed not necessarily in importance 1. Visual Ability. Great hand/eye coordination and spatial cognition. (see Note) 2. Skill Development. Through learning and practice. 3. Good Judgement. Intelligent management of risk. 4. Acceleration Sense. Physical ability to sense and react to three dimensional acceleration. 5. Money. To buy the best equipment and hire the best people to help/support you. 6. Courage. Willingness to take risks despite danger of serious physical harm. In iRacing, essentially a video game, only the first three categories listed matter. There is no three dimensional acceleration sensation, and attempts to simulate the sensation with motion feedback are not in real time. Money, while not irrelevant, does not matter much as some of the fastest drivers use very simple and relatively inexpensive gear. And, courage matters little when there is no physical danger or cost--just hit the reset button and everything is new again. Note: Visual Ability includes the mental capacity to make quick decisions and fast/accurate response movement of both hands and feet to visual cues. So, in iRacing, "What it Takes to Win" is: 1. Visual Ability. Great hand/eye coordination and spatial cognition. (see Note) 2. Skill Development. Through learning and practice. 3. Good Judgement. Intelligent management of risk. Everyone has an equal opportunity to develop good judgement. They also have equal opportunity to learn and practice, except there is some unequality in the time available to do so. What makes the BIG difference between iRacing drivers is Visual Ability. This ability to the greatest extent is a "gift" and its level varies greatly among the human population--much like height. And, it sadly diminishes with age after age 30. It's distribution curve is similar to below and is very similar to the distribution of iRating in iRacing. A large group distributed around an average with a small percentage with huge advantage/difference.
So, why is it "fair" for these gifted drivers to have a virtual monopoly on winning in contests with less gifted drivers? Nothing wrong with the exceptionally gifted competing with other exceptionally gifted--that is the essence of professional level competition. But, at amateur levels, where people with a wide variance in gifted ability compete, some sort of adjustment is needed. (In professional racing, it is often Money that determines the winner.) That is the concept of PURSUIT RACING or BOPT that we will use in the RACE4sport Fair Chance League. The difference in gifted/inherited Visual Ability is compensated for by giving those with lower iRating a head start. So the race result is determined by Skill Development and Good Judgement. This is obviously attractive to the lower iRating drivers. But, what about the drivers with iRating of 5000 and above? The answer to that depends on why the gifted driver enters a competition. Some have a goal to demonstrate that because they are more gifted, they are "better"--winning or finishing "high" affirms their status and lifts their self-esteem. Others have a goal to "overcome" difficulty and prove that they are better not just because of their inherited giftedness, but through their own individual effort--sort of like the young men that inherit wealth or privilege from their fathers, but what to prove they can make it "on the own merit". These are the gifted drivers that will find the RACE4Sport Fair Chance League to provide one the most satisfying iRacing experiences available.
The essence of every sporting contest is an uncertain outcome with all challengers having a fair chance to achieve victory. Our competitions are a form of PURSUIT RACING--quite common in Sailboat Racing
Below shows the distribution of iRacing participants by iRating.
iRating is a reasonably accurate predictor of relative finishing position. It cannot be seen as a fair sporting contest when entrants with higher iRating essentially have an almost certain probability of finishing ahead and winning against others with lower iRating. A race between a 4000 iRating driver and a 1800 iRating driver is not really a sporting contest of skill--it is merely an exhibition.
The above photo illustrates the point. Both Willie and Wilt were great athletes. Wilt was not better than Willie, he was just taller than Willie. Shoemaker won 8833 races. Chamberlain is the only basketball player to score more than 100 points in one game. In a horse race, the 275 pound Chamberlain as a jockey would not have a chance against the 91 pound Shoemaker on almost any horse. On the basketball court, the 4'10" Shoemaker would have little chance of outscoring 7'+ Chamberlain in a game of one on one. So, any contest between the two would have to compensate for the differences in the participants.
The best way to create a "Balance of Performance" is to add weight, like they do in horse racing "handicapping". But this is not presently offered by iRacing Leagues. So, we will use a system more similar to golf and sporting clays, we will give the drivers with a lower iRating a "head start". The concept is similar to the "Predator" racing format used by some multi-class endurance races.
RACE4Sport Fair Chance will run the same car, but will divide the field into four groups according to iRating. (The figure will be the highest iRating achieved by the driver over recorded iRacing history.) Qualifying determines the starting order of each group. The lowest iRating Group I starts on the grid. The next higher iRating Group 2 starts in the pits after the green flag by the amount of BOPT (Balance of Performance Time) in seconds. Group 3 and Group 4 start later according to their respective BOPT. Each track has its own BOPT's. The goal will be for the top qualifier in each group to have a statistically equal chance to win. Prizes will be: $20 to 1st place each race, $10 to 2nd, and $5 to third, paid in iRacing credits.
The League Administrator/Organizer and Steward will set the BOPT's and assign drivers to each Group. He will not participate in the race, but will observe to insure adherence to the rules. A "replay" video of each race's highlights will be posted on YouTube. (Enthusiasts) Group 1: Below 1800 iRating (Subject to adjustment) (Accompished-Fast) Group 2: 1800-2500 iRating (Expert-Very Fast) Group 3: 2501-3200 iRating (Gifted) Group 4: Above 3200 The chart below shows the brackets as related to the skewed distribution of iRating on iRacing.
A careful review of racing statistics indicates that Group 4 will generally run within 0.5% of the "Alien 8000 iRating" driver's time. Group 3 will generally be within 0.5-1.0% of the Alien's time. Group 2 will be generally within 1.0 to 2.0%. Group 1 will range from 2.0 to 4.0%. Group 1 drivers who cannot reach 104% of the Alien's time probably need more practice. The League will focus on the IMSA Series GTE cars: Ferrari 488GTE and the Ford GT GTE. Driver's choice. Racing is with "open" setups, but the League Organizer will provide a "safe" setup for the Ferrari and demo lap video for each event. (The GTE cars were chosen as they are both "new" and participation in the "open" series is good. They are also fun to drive. Challenging, but not overly so for Enthusiasts.) Races will be approximately 45 minutes with one pit stop required. Races will be held on Thursday, with a 20 minute practice and 10 minute Qualifying Session beginning at 22:30 GMT (5:30 EST) with the race beginning at 23:00 GMT--in League Sessions. There will be a two hour "official" practice in League Sessions on Wednesday 21:30-23:30 GMT (4:30-6:30 EST) We will generally follow the same schedule as the IMSA Sports Car Series. We will run some unofficial earlybird practices in Hosted Sessions on Saturday mornings (9AM EST-10AM EDT) and Monday evenings 4:30-6:30 EST-5:30-7:30 EDT In Winter, GMT is 5 hours ahead of EST. In Summer starting March 11, Eastern Time becomes daylight savings, one hour later and GMT is only 4 hours ahead. We ALWAYS stay the same GMT and EST--except in "summer" or "daylight savings", the clock time will be one hour later EDT. Since our first season is 2018S2, with the first official practice on March 14 at 21:30GMT, the US time will be 5:30EDT.
Then, after Europe changes to "Summer" time on March 25, we will change the GMT times to keep the races from running too late into the wee hours of the morning for Europeans.
We have changed our Simple Rule to recognize that the vast majority of racers enjoy a bit of a "battle" with other drivers. We welcome all drivers, without discrimination as long as the license is C3.0 or higher. We hope to create a community of friends who love racing. Our new Simple Rule: Take care to avoid any action that is likely to harm another driver. The event is intended to be an enjoyable and fun experience by all participants. In practice, this means: A) The car "ahead" at the turn in point has corner rights. The "battle" for the corner begins on the straight, continues in the braking zone but ends at the turn in point. B) iRacing makes "predictions" of car position that have potential errors due to ping lag over the internet. Drivers are required to allow reasonable "racing room" to avoid "net code". Generally this means one half of a car length behind or one half of a car width beside. Racing Steward will be the final judge of infractions. Violations of either A) or B) will result in a black flag penalty and/or loss of position.
History:
I am a 67 year old Economist and a Mechanical Engineer. My passion for more than 40 years has been the "science" of motorsports and vehicle dynamics. I am also a devout Christian. I serve as a Chaplain with Racers for Christ, an organization that serves the motorsports community in real life. About Team RFC
All of my life I have studied and contemplated the philosophy of competition in human existence (Business, Sport, Politics, and Life in General) and how it affects general "happiness". I love driving race cars and building setups. I am a competent setup "engineer" with quite a bit of real life racing experience--at high professional levels many years ago. (FIA Grade B and NASCAR Gold Licenses--Winston Cup and SCCA Pro TransAM in the 1980's) I am a reasonably quick 67 year old but with slower reaction times, stiff joints, and poor eyesight, I am pretty much middle of the pack, generally 1-2% behind the really fast younger guys. (rated "Senior" in the recent FR2.0 Time Attack.) But, wherever I finish, as long as nobody hits or dive-bombs me, I really enjoy the sport.
I have raced in several leagues. In all of them, the organizer was a participant competing for the podium. I organized the quite successful 60PLUS Racing Adventures League and at first I did not participate. Later, with the encouragement of participants, I joined in. I regret that decision as I strongly believe that a league is better when the organizer does not compete for the podium.
The sole motivation behind the effort of organizing the league is my dedication to the Christian ministry responsibilities of being a Team RFC Chaplain. We (Team RFC) SERVE the motorsports community. iRacing is a part of the motorsports community and can be a great blessing. It provides the joy from motorsports competition without the expense and danger. The physical and mental gifts required to excel in motorsports vary significantly. I strongly believe that all participants deserve the fair chance to win the "prize" in competition. And, for the "gifted" ones, winning in this series will be a challenge that recognizes your effort as well as your gifts.
Contact me or any Team RFC Chaplain personally if you wish to learn more about the Good News that Christians proclaim. We are Christ's Ambassadors and are here to serve you. We have an active Prayer Group as well, so if you would like us to pray with or for you or your loved ones, please let me know.
