TORA.US Touring Masters Rules and Regulations

General Rules & Driving Etiquette

Touring Car racing, as defined by TORA, is a non contact sport. It is understandable that on occasion some contact may occur that is not expected by either party, for example due to lag. Competitors with 'lag' issues will not be penalized, but may be asked to improve their connection, if the issue is persistently hindering other's experiences please see connection section.

TORA expects competitors who partake in its championships and meetings to behave in an appropriate and respectable manner. Insulting comments or behavior towards fellow competitors and race stewards is unacceptable and will be dealt with severely.

Competitors who are being followed on a straight part of a track by another car may move their position on the track ONCE to defend, any further sufficient movement outside of cornering will be deemed as weaving and you may be reported to the race director or head steward after the race.

If a competitor leaves the track at any time, it is advised that extra caution is taken not to impede other drivers when rejoining, please check and look before rejoining the track. Common courtesy stipulates that a driver in a dangerous position on the circuit should alert oncoming drivers of their position to avoid additional incidents, (essentially the yellow flag rules.)

Track Limits

The track limits are determined by the solid white lines either side of the track. At all times, two wheels must remain on this part of the circuit, unless of an occurrence where it is near to impossible to keep two wheels on the track, like avoiding a collision. During a race meeting, each time the track limits are not adhered to, a warning will be given. Each driver are allowed five warnings of all four wheels leaving the track via the inside of a corner, at any part of the circuit. If a sixth and subsequent "corner cutting" occurrences happen within a race meeting, then that driver will lose a position for each corner cut. Again, if a corner is cut to avoid a collision, this would not be given a warning.

The track limits must be adhered to in the event of gaining an advantage whilst having an on-track battle. If a driver overtakes a driver by getting all four wheels off the track, the driver must give that position back before they may continue the race. If the driver which was overtaken backs off heavily either through incident or "mechanical" failure, then the position will not need to be given back.

TORA.US Touring Masters Championships

The TORA.US Touring Masters series will take place between the 17th of October 2014 and the 7th of November 2014 in a 10 Meeting championship. The series will have two championships up for grabs.

DRIVER CHAMPIONSHIP

This will be a championship fought by each driver for themselves. The total amount of points at the end of the series will be their final points total and will result in their position in the overall drivers standing at the end of the year. No Drop Round.

TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP

A team will be made up of a maximum of 3 drivers, all driving the same car in the same class. This championship will be scored by the total points scored by the top two team drivers at each round over the course of the championship.

Car Changes

Each entry is allowed ONE change of car over the course of the series.


Race Rules

Race Meeting Set-Up

QUALIFYING

We ask that all competitors are on Xbox live 15 minutes prior to the start of the race meeting, and appear online. Where necessary, if each competitor could post "In" in the relevant race meeting thread on the TORA forums. Anyone who wishes to race without posting "In" will need to wait the race meeting organizers confirmation before being allowed to race.
One invite will be sent out to all race entrants. This invite will also denote your qualifying lobby.

If a connection issue is apparent please contact the race director or lobby host as soon as possible and they will do their best to ensure you can connect to the qualifying lobby.

Competitors who are not connected to the host’s room at the start time without reason stated before the start time of the race meeting will not be able to take part in qualifying. The qualifying session will start no later than 5 minutes from the designated race meeting start time.

Settings

-Qualifying will consist of 4 flying laps (lap counter will be set to 6 laps)
-Collisions will be forced off
-Damage will be set to Limited damage
-There will be no roll off delay - you must find your own space on track.
-The Grid will be set to Random
-Once you complete all 4 flying laps you will meet in the first corner so that the lobby marshals can take down your qualifying time and conduct scrutineering if required.
-Times will then be uploaded to the Live Timing application by the chief marshal of the meeting
-Clean laps take preference over Dirty laps. A slower clean lap will qualify in front of a faster Dirty lap.

RACE

We ask that all competitors remain on Xbox live for the start of the race. ONE invite will be sent out to all race entrants. This will denote your race lobby. If a connection issue is apparent please contact the race director or lobby host ASAP and they will do their best to ensure you can connect to the race lobby.

Competitors who are not connected to the host’s room, or contacted a race official to explain a delay, after 10 minutes of the race lobby invite has been sent will not be able to take part in race.

Race - Grid will be the results of the qualifying session. All drivers with "clean" laps in qualifying will be before all drivers who set "dirty" laps. Races will take pace over a per-determined amount of laps. Please see the Season Calendar for details.

There will be three races in an evening, and each will last around 15 minutes.

Race One will form up on the grid in the order in which the competitors qualified.
Race Two will form up on the grid in the reverse order in which the competitors finished Race One.
Race Three will form up on the grid in the order of Lobby Points.

There will be no mandatory pit stops during the races.

Parade Lap and Standing Start

Competitors will perform a single Formation lap to set the grid positions in Race 1 of each round, before a standing start on lap 2 begins race conditions. We ask all competitors to listen to the lobby host for what speed they should drive on the parade lap - around 80mph maximum. Competitors are asked not to move until the lobby host reads out the grid order and confirms when they can move off. We ask that competitors do not race one-another in the formation lap as to not interfere with the grid order, any resulting infringements will be reported to the race director and penalties may be given.

For Race 2 and 3, if there are no lag outs or other Lobby issues, a Standing Start from 10 second delay may be used. The lobby will be notified of this after the completion of the prior race, as it eliminates the need for a Formation lap. In this case, after the default 3-2-1 countdown, the field must remain stationary until the race timer hits 10 seconds, at which time the race commences.

To achieve the standing start the competitors may be led by the lead car until they reach the start/finish straight. When the lead driver reaches the start/finish straight, the driver will form up in the relevant grid slot. Each driver behind must form up in their order in the relevant grid slots. When the driver in last position on the grid has formed up and is in their grid slot they must tell the lobby host that they are ready. The Lobby Host will then confirm the grid is set and ready. The lobby host will pick a time on the overall Race Timer for when the race will start. The time that is chosen must be 10-15 second ahead so that the entire grid can prepare to start. When the timer reaches the chosen value the race will commence by all drivers accelerate from their grid slot. Jump starts will be investigated by the Stewards and will results in penalties.



As stated in the video, Road Atlanta does not have grid slots, so each car will be 25ft behind the car in front of them.

Jump Start.

Within 0.100 Seconds of Start time then a Warning is given out. If a Driver receives another warning within Two Meetings (Six Races) then a Five Place Grid Penalty for the next round is issued.

Anything over 0.100 Seconds is an automatic Five Place Grid Penalty for the next round.

Decisions may be appealed if there is substantial proof (at least one more Replay other than the one used to make the decision) is provided to show the decision is incorrect.

Settings

- Collisions during all races will be on, and set with Limited Damage. Driving Line and Normal/Simulation Steering are the only allowed driving aids that may be used. TCS, ABS, STM, Auto-brake and Auto-gears are prohibited. Manual gears must be used but it is up to the competitor if they wish to use the clutch or not.
- The race will be set to a per-determined amount of laps which the lobby host will make aware to the competitors in the lobby.

Race Etiquette

-Touring Car racing is defined as non-contact but a certain level of door rubbing and panel bashing is inevitable. With Limited damage on please take care when racing with each other so you do not ruin other people's races as well as your own. If you are found to be causing incidents that were avoidable then action will be taken by the stewards. Please see the Steward Handbook for details on the action and penalties that may result.[/quote]