Britcar Final Prep - Help us make it go smoothly!

That got your attention!!

The race activities begins in 3 days, and we need your racing and qualifying information ASAP! If you don't get your information by a certain time (before the race) then we will assume that your not taking part anymore, and give your grid space to a new team if need be. You only need 1 qualifier per team to get your car a grid slot.

Non-qualifying teams might still be able to take part, but a penalty will be issued, which is to start at the back of the field, and take a pitstop at the conclusion of their warm-up lap as the rest of the field take their rolling start, which will give you a major disadvantage. To apply for your qualifying session, and read how it works (if your new to endurance race on TORA), CLICK HERE


Next, and most importantly...

We need your race stints ASAP. When the race begins, if we haven't got your race stints for your drivers, we won't know who to invite to the race. There is alot of logistics involved in these endurance events, and even when things are set up perfectly there will always be a delay occur at some point in the race. The last thing we want to be doing is trawling through the forums to find who is driving, or accepting numerous XBL messages with driver updates.

Therefore, without your driver Stints announced by Tuesday 8pm (or at least a message asking for more time as you really want to race), your team will be removed from the entrys, and your grid slot will be up for grabs!

To see what the race stints are, how the system works, and to announce your race stints, CLICK HERE

Thanks for reading, and look forward to thing kicking off next week!

It's Race Day!

As per Le Mans we have a few basic pointers and rules to go over before we go green at Silverstone for the Britcar 24.


Stint preparation.

Please make sure you are online at least 15 minutes before your stint is due to start and they you know who your lobby host is. You will get an invite from the lobby host, however please be aware of the Staff gamertags so that you are not surprised by who is inviting you.

The race stints will last for 1 hours and 45 minutes. At that time all competitors MUST stop exactly where they are on the track. The lobby host will then ask for your current distance that you have travelled. At Silverstone it is the total distance travelled that counts, so we need to add them all up after each stint. The fairest way we can do this is be stopping on track. We did this at Sebring and Le Mans and it worked very well, so I am confident this will work best. We will have camera cars in the top two lobby, so we will will know if anyone is moving and they will be penalized accordingly.

The final stint will finish in the same fashion as an ISCC race. We will race to 2 hours, and at the 2 hour mark everybody will finish the lap they are on and then meet at the pitlane exit. When the time comes you must remember the time you crossed the finish line at, and your overall distance (which shouldn't change by the pitlane exit) This only applied to stint 12, the last one.

Due to the problems on FM4 and Xbox Live we cannot completely eradicate NAT and connection issues. Please make sure that for every stint you have a back up driver ready to take your place for your stint. The backup driver MUST be someone from your team, and not a new random member. It may be very difficult to have back up drivers, so obviously it isn't mandatory. It just means that you won't miss out on a stint due to connection issues.

Regarding connection issues, we will be opening the stints as soon as possible and trying to get everyone in as quickly as possible. Some people will be double stinting, so lobbies cannot go whilst the previous one is running. We aim to start the lobbies on the hour every time, but if we have connection problems we will be waiting for 5 minutes at most to get people in. If you cannot connect and cannot get online by 5 past the hour then the stint will start without you. We will be only be sending out two invites per session at most to everybody, so be prepared to receive them. If you do not arrive within the 5 minute window and do not accept one of the first 2 invites then the stint will start without you. We relay on a lot of pre-planning from everyone taking part in this event to make it run as easy and smoothly as possible, so we will not be hanging around for half an hour at the start of each stint trying to get one or two people in.

The first stint will start under the standard TORA Rolling Start fashion. Cars must follow the lead car around the track at a maximum of 80mph until they reach the final set of corners where they must form up 2x2 in their Qualifying grid order and slow down to 60mph. The lead car in the lobby will then sound off '3...2...1...GO' at any time between the Pit Lane Entry and the Start Line. Lobby A (which will be streamed Live) will follow the Britcar Saftety Car around the track which will simply act like the lead car, and will pull off before the cars enter the Start/Finish straight.

Every Stint after the first one will then start in 'Random' Grid Order with a 1 second roll off delay. This is to reduce wait time between races and will act as if everyone has just completed a 'pit stop' and have returned to track in a different order than when they entered the pits. There will be no rolling start, you just race from the start. This will mix up all classes, so be careful when entering the first corner as you will be on cold tyres and possibly behind or in front or a much slower or faster car.

There will be one mandatory pit stop from every competitor during every stint of the race. This must be completed at some point during the stint, and you must tell your lobby host you have done so. If you fail to pit during a stint then one lap will be removed from your overall count.

The Pit Lane has been a point of much discussion at Silverstone due to the fact that it comes out onto the track very quickly. Please use the first and shortest pit lane exit (as the F1 and real Britcar use) and please stay within the yellow line as much as possible until you reach the end. Please be aware that the end of the line is when cars are beginning to enter the Maggots and Becketts, so be careful when returning to track. If any cars are near you when doing so then please make them aware you are exiting pit lane. DO NOT use the long, thin Pit Exit as it comes out onto the track at high speed and straight onto the racing line for Maggots/Becketts. This will give no room for manoeuvring for either driver, so it is deemed to be too dangerous. Please see the pictures below as a guide:






Other than that I just want to wish everyone the best of luck over the next day or so. Remember, it is a long race and it will not be won in the first corner. As we found out at Le Mans, consistency and reliability is key to winning so try to avoid crashes and hope your connections stay stable throughout the event.

See you on the track!

Midday BUMP, 2 hours left, please read above

half hour left, last bumpage, if not done already, please read above drivers briefing

Lobby A Hosts:

Ianmr
Ianmr (Richy59)
AndyT306
IRT Trash
Ianmr
IRT Trash
IRT Trash
AndyT306
AndyT306
Ianmr (Richy59)
Ianmr (Richy59)
Ianmr

Lobby B hosts:

CQR Aero
CQR Aero
SelectiveRogue
SelectiveRogue
FranchittiFan
CMGraphix
PpR YT RICE (TBC)
CMGraphix
CMGraphix
lfcnicklfc (TBC)
SelectiveRogue
FranchittiFan

Lobby C Hosts:

XBR Doughnut
XBR Doughnut
XBR Doughnut
Djlandrover
XBR Speedy
XBR Mad Dog
Djlandrover
XBR Speedy
XBR Doughnut
XBR Mad Dog
XBR Doughnut
XBR Doughnut