1] Are the grids too big?
I don't think they are. John's stats say a lot and you have to drive to the circumstances
2] Are people in general taking more and unjustifiable risks?
I think not, but then there are a lot of new drivers which may be are not used to our high standards. It's up to us to educate them. The league does that well but you need a willing student to get the right results
3] Is F1 Classic a propor league-mod when it comes to close quarter racing?
Absolutely.

4] Should the Stewards be more harsh and strickt?
Possibly, I'll give it more thought
5] Should the rules be changed to try and enforce better driving?
Again possibly, but only very small things.. again more thought required here for me to comment further

6] What can we do to improve overal driving standards or the characteristics of close driving as a whole?

I know the RDs have gotten pissed off lately with lack of preperation. A mandatory Club attendance once a week would be good but not practicle for every one. A registration thread where people post up a statement of having read all related announcements, have practiced a race start etc. If infringements occur relating to this i.e. they duff the start sequence, some sort of penalty is imposed. Is there anyway to check some one has enough practice laps? (pre determined amount of laps to be able to attend) Just spontaneous ideas....
I think there are far too many formation incidents and we the stewards should be more strick here or impose a heavier penalty.
I also don't like many guys ignoring their HUD.Some seem to not be aware of what the hell is going on around them...pit exiting in practice and qually, being lapped and knowing (by using the HUD) who is ahead and behind and working out if you are about to be lapped. The same for qually.Knowing where you are, create a gap. That about covers driving standards.
As far as characteristics of close driving.... I think on the whole, once people are up to speed and settle down things are good. I've had some great fights at close quarter recently! I think this comes down to experience.


7] Should we change from a sprint and feature race into a TWF1 style event where we have one main event only?
I would personally like to see longer races in general with a higher damage level,and also tyre wear figure more( in TWF1 rather than TWFC). but a sprint and feature is good fun and as it's supposed to be a Junior meeting, this fits well here to give a second chance for those Rookie mistakes. A second go at things is good in this respect.

8] should the feature race be the first race and the sprint the second race?

I appreciate Rouke's pov on this and am inclined to agree to an extent but personally I am happy with the way things are here.

Sorry guys, didnt want to open a can of worms with the QF debate :)
I see the points why we have the rules we have and what they are supposed to do.

Its only that the QF rules seem specially harsh compared to what happens most times when someone cooks up in a race situation.
I dont mind drivers risking much in QF, i do mind if they do that in a race.
Anyway its not a rules problem we had so far, its more of an attitude thing i guess.

The f1classics need just some more breathing room then series we ran before. I think if we get our head around that we should be fine.

I think part of the "problem" with F1 Classic is that it's fairly easy to drive and to drive closely to each other- but close driving is always risky, and people forget that because it seems so easy.

Ciao,
Antonio

1] Are the grids too big?
Nope, I like big grids. More drivers will always equate to more incidents, so extra care should be taken. Personally, I think it's better to have more drivers and more incidents, than to restrict the grid size.

2] Are people in general taking more and unjustifiable risks?


Obviously it's a different situation with a driver as slow as me, but I've only noticed one thing (And this is connected witht he comments about getting to know each other in the forums) I notice a lot of faster cars getting right in my slipstream when they're coming round to lap me. I always do my best to get out of the way of faster cars so there shouldn't be any need for this, however, the front runners clearly don't want to waste any time, so push it as close as they can. I often brake very early going into a turn compared to the front of the pack, so getting right under my gearbox is suicidal. If I'm so slow that I'm getting in the way, please have a word and I'll sit out of championship races. The last thing I want to do is effect championship positions but I've always assumed that you're all in the same boat, I certainly don't make it difficult for anyone on purpose.

3] Is F1 Classic a propor league-mod when it comes to close quarter racing?
I really enjoy the mod and I found it easier to get used to than expected, but I'm now considering a move to TWF1 due to the lack of wings, this is ironic considering that I tried to avoid TWF1 as it was always considered the 'senior' series and I'm crap. These cars move about a little bit too much for me and I do fear the day I lose it while getting lapped and take out the front runners. ^See above^

4] Should the Stewards be more harsh and strickt?
I don't think so.

5] Should the rules be changed to try and enforce beter driving?
If it could be done without adding more work for the stewards. And nothing drastic.

6] What can we do to improve overal driving standards or the characteristics of close driving as a whole?


I agree with this and the original post, whoever it was from. Also, the club races are crucial for people to get a grip with who's who.

7] Should we change from a sprint and feature race into a TWF1 style event where we have one main event only?
PLEASE NO!!! Think of the inexperienced drivers, we (OK, I) can make a race ending mistake at any moment and if we had only one race, that'd be a weeks practice gone in one instant.

8] should the feature race be the first race and the sprint the second race?
I think the situation would probably be quite similar. For me, it could also be damaging... I find, however much I practice mid-week, I gain most of my consistency from the sprint race. I concentrate a lot better when the pressure's really on me, I find myself improving quite rapidly in the sprint race which leaves me much better prepared for the feature.


(How do I turn BBcode on?! It's on by default in my user control panel)
I turned it on for you Gary. You had the box checked that says Disable BBCode - box is below the edit text window - DK

Gary, first of all, you will always be welcome on the Grid at TWFC, it is an open championship with mixed ability levels, so regardless of the gap between you and the fast guys, you are equally entitled to race. With the speed differential, we all have the duty to pass safely, if you stick to your line and they will find a way passed, in practice this can be a little unnerving for sure, especially if they are using your slipstream, my advice though is to concentrate on your race, moving over for other people invariably puts you in awkward positions, being off the racing line and therefore you are going to possibly struggle to stay on the track at the next corner. So just, drive at your pace, if you start thinking you are going to take out someone as they pass, it will be a matter of time before you have such an incident. We all should be driving with the HUD and with names visible, that way you'll know who you are passing and by now should have an idea of the way they drive. If there is an accident while you are being passed and you have stayed on the correct racing line, this should allow the faster guys to pass without incident, if you start wandering about the track trying to let cars by you are going to come to grief, most likely end up in the Stewards Office for a rollicking!

I agree with all that Mark has said.
Gary don't even think about quiting.
Everyone gets thier turn at being a back marker. There will always be someone quicker than me,you, everyone. It's part of racing, and everyone will have got in a faster guy's way at some stage in their career.

For me the rules are ok as they are, the only one I will change is the 50% rule, as its a total paradox in my opinion,
because we all want safe driving and at the same time we dont want waste our time spent for praccy, and not gaining any points because you couldnt cover 50% ( most of the time is not ur fault but some1 else`s ) u wasted the whole week spent for praccy... or in order to get point u force urself to drive an ill handling car up to half distance becoming a serious issue on track, I know u can tell me is because to keep ppl driving in the race but we are lots of drivers this year as grids are always full, and there s possibility of the extreme case of drivers gets shunted every race and dont cover the required distance to get points they will for sure look somewhere else and therefore u goin to loose some drivers in the future if this rules remains in force, so I dont really see the point of this rule...
But obviously this is my opinion.

DK edit: enabled BBCode

I agree with you. I think it would be better to award points from (perhaps) the end of lap one. Or even just give points to all starters, like before. With this, you could then persuade us to accept 100% damage... (Although, I'm not a fan of that either, I suspect some people might be).

DK edit: enabled BBCode

Sal,

as I see it, if you're always in trouble at lap 1, you're at least part of the trouble.

Yes, it can be that you're innocently "swept out" by someone who's totally missing the braking point behind you. But, if you play it safe for yourself (back-off from the cars ahead at T1, brake more prudently, avoid sudden moves...) you might lose some positions in the first lap but you will avoid the big troubles. Sometimes it's also up to you.

Sometimes you simply cannot do anything, but I believe that more often than not, you can help yourself staying out of troubles. When I get caught in a lap 1 incident, I always review the replay and try to understand what I could have done better, to avoid the contact

Sorry for late reply Corrado, All,
what you say makes sense but I d like to point out that if you get smashed in the beginning of the race you eventually gonna loose points (and fun)as the others will carry on racing or at least few more laps then you did so therefore you gonna climb down the standings its obvious, but at least some points you get it! so is not all wasted you know what I mean, especially this year we have so many drivers and I am happy with it as i like big grids but eventually the rate of incidents has grown, maybe rule should state that if you are the crash maker you dont get points so next time you ll think twice before pulling a critical dangerous move ( and most of the time is because a wrong setup of the car or the wheel, not necessarly a bad driving)and what you say is anyway for the already experienced driver if someone is new to racing what we can do about it? yes I know there is rules of probation and banning but before you reach that point system you ruined already the race/champ to someone else...
It happened to me last race in F167 that I was driving a ill handling car and collided (and spoiled his race, Sorry again Jef!!)with one of the leader of the race while he was lapping me, because you cannot forecast the behaviour of a damaged car....can you?
So I think the 50% rule is a paradox as you dont want other drivers spoiling your race/champ/praccy time, but then is the rule that does it for you! job accomplished :))

Sal,

The 50% rule was there to try to encourage people to do two things.

1) Be more carefull at the start and early laps.
2) not just quit and leave an empty field.

Not entirely sure they are working as intended but I think the intent is correct although it doesn't seem to have the desired effect. That said part of the issue in your case was the inability to repair the car. In F179 you'll only run a single lap with a severely damaged car, thus would pit and continue ( as I did at surfers).