About The Series

 

This is a championship for people who want to experience touring car racing, during European friendly time slots, in a controlled friendly league.

Our races take place on Wednesday evenings.

The cars we use are the Audi RS 3 LMS, Honda Civic Type R, Hyundai Veloster N TC and the Hyundai Elantra N TC. If further cars are added, we will add them to the league.

Drivers are not allowed to change cars during the season unless we are within the car change amnesty window in the week between weeks 6 and 7 of the schedule.  If you feel the need to change cars outside of this window, you will be penalised 300 points.

This is an open setup series where faster drivers are encouraged to help slower drivers with help, advice and hopefully the sharing of setups.

There are no minimum requirements for iRating or Safety Rating.

All our races are shown live by Backfire Simsport TV.

The league is limited to 50 drivers, on a first come first served basis.

As a league driver, please let us know if your circumstances change and you can no longer race with us. We can then offer your place to another driver.

 

Fee

 

The fee for each 12 week (22 race) season is £17.00 GBP, this covers the broadcast cost and also the hosting fees.

Fees are payable to backfiresimsporttv@gmail.com via PayPal and need to be in GBP.

Your place is not guaranteed until we have received your payment in full.

All drivers joining from the start of the season, up to and including week 6, pay full price.

Drivers joining after week 6 will get a 50% reduction in the entry fee.

Two “trial” weeks can be done for free for those racers new to the league after which payment will be required or racers will be excluded from participating in the league further.

 

Liveries

 

Paint packs are used for the series.

Once you have registered on our website you can upload your own paints to the website and download the latest paint pack before each race meeting.

A decal layer will be added to each paint by the admins. This will cover the front windshield banner and custom number blocks so please leave these area’s blank. Cars will be provided with class appropriate and colour-coded banners.

Any driver that does not submit a paint will be given our league default paint.

We have several BSTV logos that we can share if you want to help to advertise the broadcaster on your car.

We do ask that you have permission to use any logos on your car from the owner.

 

Communication

 

We have our own Discord server for race nights and general chit chat.

We know most teams and drivers run their own voice comms so it is not mandatory to use our Discord. However, the broadcast and post race interviews will be done using the BSTV Discord server. Most drivers enter the channel “Interview Waiting Room” after the race for a chat – you may be pulled into the broadcast should you do so.

A link to join our Discord server is on our website.

 

 

Championships

 

Driver Championship

Drivers are allowed 2 drop rounds to allow for any unforeseen circumstances, so your total points in the championship will be calculated from your best 10 race weeks. These drop races will start to be accounted for from week 6 of the season. A drop round is defined as one Endurance race or the combination of two Sprint/Feature races from one single race week. 

Driver classes

Drivers will be split into Pro, Pro-Am and Am classes based on relative skill, experience and speed. We make these judgements taking into account iRating and past performances. A drivers class may be adjusted mid-season at the discretion of BSTV.  Points are scored as per the finishing position overall and are not relative to finishing position in class. 

Team Championship

Teams can be made up of three drivers.
The two highest scoring drivers of a team in a race will count towards the Team championship.

Driver of the season

Each week the commentators will vote individually for a Driver of the Meeting. These votes are tallied up so that a Driver of the Season can be crowned at the end of the season.

Safe Driver Award

The safe driver award is earned by the driver with the lowest calculated incident points per corner for the season.  A driver must complete 9 races to be considered for this award.

 

 

 

 

 

Race Sessions

 

Our servers start at 6:30pm UK time on race days.

There are two types of race week.

1. Sprint/Feature

2. Endurance

 


1. Sprint/Feature Week Rules

Qualifying start time is 7:45pm on race days.

Practice = 75 mins

Qualifying = 15 mins

Sprint Race = 20 mins - Feature Race = 40 mins – Both are standing starts

Feature Race starting grid will have the top 12 finishers from the Sprint Race reversed.

Race fuel is limited to 30% of a full tank.

2. Endurance Week Rules

Qualifying start time is 7:45pm on race days.

Practice = 85 mins

Qualifying = 15 mins

Endurance Race = 80 mins - Standing starts

Race fuel is limited to 36% of a full tank.

 

All league sessions will be very close to the race in-sim time of day of the official races for the TCR cars within iracing.

There will be one change to the schedule each season as the previous series champion gets to have a “Champions Choice Track” where they will also choose time of day for the in-sim conditions.

If there are less than 10 drivers for any given race, the admins reserve the right to cancel the race and the broadcast and remove it from the schedule.

In the event of a significant crash incident a caution may be issued by the BSTV administrators.  Cautions are issued at the discretion of BSTV administration.

 

 

 

 

Point Scoring

(Points are doubled for Endurance races).

 

Position Points
1 125
2 120
3 115
4 111
5 107
6 103
7 100
8 97
9 94
10 91
11 88
12 86
13 84
14 82
15 80
16 78
17 76
18 74
19 72
20 70
21 68
22 66
23 64
24 62
25 60
26 58
27 56
28 54
29 52
30 51
31 50
32 49
33 48
34 47
35 46
36 45
37 44
38 43
39 42
40 41
41 40
42 39
43 38
44 37
45 36
46 35
47 34
48 33
49 32
50 31

 

 

 

  

Bonus & Penalty Points

 

Pole Position - The driver gaining pole position from the qualifying session will receive 3 bonus points.

Fastest Lap - The driver with the fastest lap in each race will receive 1 bonus points.

Laps Led – Any driver determined by iRacing to have led a lap will receive 1 bonus point up to a maximum of 3 points per race.

Incident Points - Each driver will receive 1 penalty point for every incident point they collect.

Drive Through Penalty - On reaching 15 incident points in any race, a driver will receive a black flag drive through penalty.

Race points, bonus points & penalty points are the same for both Sprint & Feature races.

Points will be awarded to drivers who complete one full racing lap – please note that ALL penalty points generated will be applied regardless of the number of laps completed.

 

  

Steward Reviews

 

From time-to-time things can get heated and/or mistakes may happen.

If you feel aggrieved by a situation, we ask that you do the following.

Allow a 12 hour cooling off period before protesting - protests received prior to the 12 hour cool off will not be considered.

View the incident from different angles and different cars.

DO NOT abuse any other drivers involved via voice or text.

If after reviewing the incident, you feel that you need to protest it, please use the protest form stating which race, which lap, and which cars were involved.

The race control admin team will review the incident, give you an honest view on the incident, and apply penalties where required.

All decisions are final.

Drivers gaining a position using unfair means are expected to give places back.

Any driver found to be abusive towards another driver, on any of our media platforms, Facebook, Discord or iRacing, via chat or text will face a pitlane start for the next race they attend. A second offence will be penalised with a race meeting ban, and a third offence will result in the driver being excluded from the league. No arguments.

"No matter who you think is at fault for an incident you're involved in, always watch the replay to find something you could have done differently to avoid the outcome. This was the biggest shift in my mindset that helped me throughout my career."

 

 

 

General

 

Black flags will only be cleared during practice sessions.

In the event of a caution you must be aware that pitlane may be closed as you approach or if you reset the car - black flags will not be cleared in the event of a pitlane infringement and penalty. 

We use iRacing dynamic weather so bear in mind that the weather conditions will change from session to session.

You will get 1 free repair per race. Please note that any slight damage, even from taking a curb too vigorously can result in your free repair being used. You can turn this off and decide when you want to use your free repair.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact one of the admins or email one of us from the contact list below.

Winners of PRO-AM and AM classes will be given the opportunity to move tot he class above for the following season.

 

 

Admins

 

Pete Bingham (Membership, race control, commentator, liveries, cameras)

Clyde Whiting (Administration)

Jamie Wilson (Race Control)

 Sam Blease (Race Control)

 

By entering any race you are agreeing to have read and understood the above rules.