The team sheet will probably look a little complicated at first glance, so don't panic, it's not as bad as it may seem. I'll put up a video explaining how it works sometime soon. You won't need to worry about it quite yet. Ideally I wanted to put it as a Google Docs spreadsheet to simplify the process some, but there are some formatting issues that came up that forced me to abandon that idea. You will email your team management sheet to me before each race, or if you don't nothing will be updated for the next round.
For now, sign up with your team name and what car numbers you would like to run. Note that #1 and #2 are not available except to Bduddy, who was the winner of my closed test season. A lot of things have changed since that test season, though, so Bird and Bduddy, you will have some new things to learn. Read on for the rules:
1. Starting a team
a. You get a starting budget of 1500 money and a PR level of 5.
b. You must select a manufacturer that you wish to race for. Choose carefully, because you cannot change manufacturers. You must pay for 2 cars out of your starting budget.
c. You may opt to sign a Team Member (this is not required if you wish to save some money). Team members have a season-long contract, but can be fired at the cost of 2 races salary. You may then hire a new crew member. Team Members are first come, first serve.
d. Select 2 sponsors from the sponsor list if you wish, or hold out a couple of races to get a more lucrative sponsor. Your PR level must be at least the minimum specified PR level for the sponsor. More about PR levels in section 6. Sponsors are first come, first serve. But you may want to wait until driver signing is over in case you sign a PR-increasing driver. After the 5th round of the season, there will be a chance to change sponsors if you desire if your PR level is 9 or above
e. Choose the numbers that your cars will be. Numbers are first come, first serve. Any combination of 1, 2, or 3 digits is allowed, except for 1 and 2, reserved for the defending champion team.
f. Proceed to driver signing. You will sign 2 drivers.
2. Signing drivers
a. Initial driver signing will take place over a specified time period. At this point, no contracts are certain. You must PM the series manager with up to 5 driver offers in a prioritized list. To make a driver offer, simply say which driver you wish to sign, the length of the contract, and an optional signing bonus. This signing bonus can be any amount you wish, and if a driver has multiple offers, the larger signing bonus will get him/her. If the bonus is the same, then the driver will sign the longer contract. If it is still equal, a coin toss will determine it. Note that drivers highlighted in yellow will only sign a contract that lasts the rest of the season from the time they are signed.
b. After this period, if a driver contract expires or a team has an empty slot, just simply choose a driver and contract length, and they will sign on a first come, first serve basis.
c. Drivers may be fired at the value of half of their remaining contract.
d. When you hire a driver, you must pay their COS plus the value in the SC/race (sign cost per race) column times the length of contract minus one. (e.g. a driver with SC/race of 3 for a 4 race contract would cost 9 additional money to sign). If you renew a driver's contract immediately after the race it expires, you only need to pay half of the COS to renew the contract.
3. Parts Market/Car Modification
a. Some parts can be bought by all teams, and some are only available to a specific manufacturer.
b. Specify which parts you wish to buy on the car section of your management sheet
c. Parts bought are applied to both cars
d. You must specify that you are equipping a specified part to your cars. An unlimited number of (Misc) parts may be equipped, but only 1 of each of the other categories (Aero, Wing, Turbo, Engine) may be equipped.
e. If you have the Adjustable gear ratio upgrade, you must specify which setting you wish to be used for the race weekend (Acceleration, Balanced, or Speed)
f. Some items, like wings, are optimal to be swapped out for a different one depending on the track. If you have bought more than one of a part such as a wing, be sure to specify which one you wish to use for the race by highlighting it on the car sheet.
g. Parts you buy are available immediately for use.
4. Tires
a. Each team gets 4 free sets of balance tires to start the season.
b. You must buy additional tires throughout the season. Which ones you want to use are up to you.
c. You must specify which kind of tire you wish to run on each car for the race weekend. You may put different tires on your two cars. They do not need to be the same.
d. To purchase a tire, simply specify the tire type you want to run for the race weekend, and the cost will be deducted from your balance.
5. Research
a. Before conducting research in a particular area, you must build the team facility that corresponds to that research area.
b. To conduct research, you must get research points. It costs 2 money for 1 research point. You can also do outsourced research without having a facility built, but it will cost you 10 money for 1 research point in that case.
c. You get 1 free research point to spend in the area of your Team Member’s focus. If your driver counts as a Team Member, the same applies.
d. To research something, input the amount of research points you wish to spend on that particular area.
e. If a driver leaves your team for any reason, any research points spent training him are lost and do not apply to the new driver.
6. PR and Market Levels
a. Researching these will give your team various benefits. PR levels can also be gained from race results.
b. Each sponsor has a PR level specified. If you reach that PR level, they will give you 10 additional money per race. If you fall back below that, you lose the bonus.
c. If your PR falls below the specified amount, the sponsor will cancel your contract and you will have to find a new sponsor or race with an unsponsored car.
7. Race Format
i. Entry
a. Races will have a specified entry cost. Teams must specify that they wish to enter a race or else they will not race. The entry cost is for the whole team, not the individual cars.
ii. Qualifying
a. All cars will run 3 solo laps to qualify
b. The fastest lap of the session is the qualifying time
c. Pole winner gains 0.1 PR level for his/her team
d. Based on times, cars will be placed 4 heats of 6 cars. Any additional cars will not qualify and lose 1 PR level for that team.
e. Some races will have privateers that will show up for that event. They will be listed along with the event in the schedule. If less than 12 teams enter a race, additional privateers will be used to fill the grid.
f. Drivers that qualify for the heats earn 5 money for their team.
iii. Heats
a. The 4 heats will be run for a specified race length. The winners of each heat automatically transfer to the A-Main. The 2nd place finishers transfer to the B-Main. The 3rd place finishers advance to the Last Chance Dash.
b. Points are awarded 6-5-4-3-2-1 in heats.
c. Cars advancing to the A-main gain 0.3 PR level for their team. Cars advancing to the B-main gain 0.1 PR level for their team. 5th place loses 0.2 PR, and last place loses 0.5 PR.
d. Money is awarded 40-30-20-15-13-10
iv. Last Chance Dash
a. The Last chance dash is run as the same distance as the heats. The top 2 advance to the B-Main. No points, money, or PR levels are awarded.
v. B-Main
a. The B-Main will be run for a specified distance. The top 2 transfer to the A-main. No points are awarded in the B-Main.
b. Drivers that transfer to the A-Main gain 0.1 PR level for their team.
c. Money is awarded 10-7-5-3-2-1
vi. A-Main
a. The A-Main is run for a specified distance.
b. Points are awarded 10-6-4-3-2-1
c. Money is awarded 100-80-60-50-40-30
d. PR levels are awarded 1.5-1.1-0.8-0.7-0.4-0.3
8. Team Management
a. Between races you can do any of the management items previously listed in these rules.
b. Make sure you save some money, if you go broke you are out of the championship.
c. A lot of the functions will have to be done by the series manager, so there will be a spreadsheet on which you can see the total status of your car and team.
I do intend to do recordings of all of the races and do commentary. So for those of you that have enjoyed my commentaries on GR compo videos before, you're in luck. For the rest of you, well, you'll probably just be annoyed
Series points and race results will be done on Google Docs, allowing me to do results much faster than if I were to do images. I will also keep a sheet with the signed drivers with their current AI levels from training and/or abilities.So, to sign up, simply post your name, your team's name, the numbers for your cars, and the brand of car you would like your team to race (if you want to commit, you can wait until a little later if you wish.) It would also be nice if you could either PM or post your email address if I don't already have it. The official schedule can be found here
Sponsorship and team member signing will start in a couple of weeks once we have more people signed up. I'll open up the driver contract offers now. To offer a contract, send up to 6 preferred drivers with a contract length and signing bonus offer to me via PM. You can offer up any amount of money as a signing bonus. Just make sure you will not go into negative money, as that will eliminate you from the series. Drivers will accept contracts one week before the first race. Note that yellow highlighted drivers in the driver's list will only sign full-season contracts. If you still have open seats after the drivers sign, you can sign any driver in the same way it would be done in the middle of the season, no signing bonus is required. Once I open Sponsor and team member signing, you can send your choices for those to me via PM. They are first come, first serve. Be sure to specify which car number will have which sponsor. Car colors will be determined by sponsors. If a car does not have a sponsor, you may choose what colors it will be.
Note that the three manufacturer's cars have different performance characteristics, and some different parts available. The ARC Venom STR is focused on Power, the Weston Typhoon on aerodynamics and top speed, and the Speedtec AR2 on downforce and grip. They also have different initial costs, so you can spend a little more or less on the car depending on which you choose. Note that the cost listed in the sheet is the cost of 1 car, but you will pay for 2. So you will be spending around 1000 of your initial 1500 money on buying cars, and will have about 500 left to sign drivers, team members, upgrade the car, and pay the entry fees.
Car Background:
AR2 (Speedtec)- The European entry into the series, the AR2 was the creation of a join venture of German and Italian car designers and engineers. A large rear wing for high downforce was incorporated, and an engine with a good bit of power. The downside to the car is an increase in drag, and slightly lower top speed that the other entries. Still is probably the strongest car in the series. Look for the AR2s to be more dominant earlier in the season, although may fade a little as other teams get up to speed with upgraded cars.
Typhoon (Weston)- The British Weston group decided to try to bring their car into the mix in the GT Series, a car focused on aerodynamics and reduced drag. They accomplished this with the Typhoon, but with a slight cost in the handling department, and also a less powerful motor, but is still as fast down the straights as the other two cars. Will excel best on tracks with longer straightaways where they can take advantage of their greater speed.
Venom STR (American Racing Compay)- After limited success in the touring car arena with the Striker Touring Car, the American Racing Company has turned their focus to GT racing, with the powerful Venom STR. A little unwieldy at times, but still a worthy competitor, the Venom STR is the middle of the road option of the three manufacturers in the series. The power may be helpful on tighter circuits such as street courses, where that little extra acceleration out of the corner may give the edge. May get best closer to the end of the series because of their higher level upgrade parts.
Typhoon (Weston)- The British Weston group decided to try to bring their car into the mix in the GT Series, a car focused on aerodynamics and reduced drag. They accomplished this with the Typhoon, but with a slight cost in the handling department, and also a less powerful motor, but is still as fast down the straights as the other two cars. Will excel best on tracks with longer straightaways where they can take advantage of their greater speed.
Venom STR (American Racing Compay)- After limited success in the touring car arena with the Striker Touring Car, the American Racing Company has turned their focus to GT racing, with the powerful Venom STR. A little unwieldy at times, but still a worthy competitor, the Venom STR is the middle of the road option of the three manufacturers in the series. The power may be helpful on tighter circuits such as street courses, where that little extra acceleration out of the corner may give the edge. May get best closer to the end of the series because of their higher level upgrade parts.
The attached zip contains a word doc with the same rules that are listed above, and two Excel files. One is the management sheet, which is the heart of your team. In that sheet you will be making your research and parts decisions, as well as tracking your income and expenses. This is the sheet that you will need to send me before each round. You should only edit the green highlighted cells, as well as other cells that pertain to research/upgrades or money that your team has earned. The other sheet has the list of available drivers, sponsors, team members, and some other miscellaneous information such as the parts catalog (which is also in the management sheet) and the tire catalog (which is not in the management sheet). Please do not hesitate to ask questions, I realize that the info sheet may be a little intimidating to some, especially those that are not familiar with Excel. I will post a video explaining what you can/should do with it to help clarify how to use it. Also, feel free to post some suggestions before the series starts if you think there is an issue that needs to be addressed.
Entered Teams:
Speedtec AR2:
Razgriz Racing Team (MidnightRunner) #31 & #32
planetgenerally.de (DuklaLiberec) #18 & #19
Peninsula Motorsports (bduddy) #1 & #2
ARC Venom STR:
Volcano Motorsports (puttz) #00 & #42
Team [R]Garage (Rendy) #17 & #38
Destiny Racing (kuba) #12 & #16
Weston Typhoon:
Orange Racing Team Austria (Daniel Rosenberger) #5 & #99
Herbal Productions (Herbal) #14 & #90
Vemac Grand Prix (Bird) #8 & #9
Razgriz Racing Team (MidnightRunner) #31 & #32
planetgenerally.de (DuklaLiberec) #18 & #19
Peninsula Motorsports (bduddy) #1 & #2
ARC Venom STR:
Volcano Motorsports (puttz) #00 & #42
Team [R]Garage (Rendy) #17 & #38
Destiny Racing (kuba) #12 & #16
Weston Typhoon:
Orange Racing Team Austria (Daniel Rosenberger) #5 & #99
Herbal Productions (Herbal) #14 & #90
Vemac Grand Prix (Bird) #8 & #9
Series info (points, teams, results, etc.) can be found here
You will probably want to start looking over the driver list and decide which drivers you want to make a contract offer to, how long a contract you want to offer them, and what signing bonus you are willing to give them. You can PM up to 6 contract offers to me, in order of priority (the driver you want most to sign should be the first one listed) with the contract length and signing bonus that you wish to give them. On May 31st, drivers will sign with the team that offers them the highest signing bonus.
I'm planning on doing the commentary live this time (as I'm running the race), so I won't know what happens beforehand, I'm finding out just the same as you all will be from the videos.