Series 6 News & Updates

May 5th

 

Our 2021 Sponsors

As announced previously, we are very happy to have Hagerty Motorsports as this year’s PCA Sim Racing Title Sponsor.

PCA Sim Racing is also pleased to have the following Driver Class Sponsorships for 2021:

Read more about our 2021 sponsors here.

 

Introduction

Porsche Club of America announces the premiere PCA Sim Racing Spring 2021 eight-race championship. This is the sixth racing series in the PCA Sim Racing program. Each spring PCA sim racers compete in four classes, based on driver skill and experience, in live broadcast events with professional commentators.

With experienced PCA Sim Racers back in the Porsche GT3 Cup and newer racers in the Porsche 997 track car, all driving on iconic North American and International tracks, anticipation is high and large racer and spectator turnout is expected.

The four skill-based classes will once again compete in separate races. The Challenge Class for beginners, Sport Class for the next level up, Club Class for more experienced, and Pro Class for the top sim drivers. There is a class and fun, competitive racing for all PCA members.

An added feature for Series 6, the top-ten Pro Class Championship finishers will be invited to the 2021 International Sim Racing Challenge and compete against Sim Racers from Porsche Clubs around the world in a two-race live broadcast event. The International Sim Racing Challenge will feature the Porsche GT3 Cup at Spa and Road Atlanta.

Series 6 is a good time to petition to move up a class. Specifically those competitive in the Club Class may want to move up to the Pro Class and make a run at the International Sim Racing Challenge. Petition your eDE instructor to find out what it would take to promote to the next class. PCA Sim Racing at its very core is about instruction, improving driver skill, and moving up the class ladder.

And for the first time, PCA Sim Racing Series 6 live broadcast races move to Wednesday nights, allowing time on Fridays for other Spring/early Summer PCA activities. The eight-week Series 6 starts April 28. For more information, visit pcasimracing.com.

Driver Eligibility

As with Series 5, participating drivers will join their classed server to run only against others in their class. A reminder that all drivers must receive an assigned classification by the eDE Team, and have accepted the class league invitation in iRacing’s browser to be eligible to run Series 6. If you need qualification, please contact your Zone Group eDE representative.

Series 6 Cars

  • PCA Challenge – RUF RT 12R Track
  • PCA Sport – RUF RT 12R Track
  • PCA Club – GT3 Cup
  • PCA Pro – GT3 Cup

Car Livery

  • Custom paint schemes must comply with iRacing Custom Paint Policy iRacing Terms of Use, and this reference.
  • Broadcasts will not use Trading Paints due to potential technical issues. Thus, any paint schemes uploaded to Trading Paints will not be visible on broadcasts.
  • You don’t need to use the provided carset, but if you want to see which cars are around you, and not a multitude of common iRacing provided livery, download and install the carset updates.
  • Please do not add a class designation other than the class you are in. Displaying “PRO” while running in another class can be confusing to the broadcast viewers.
  • An updated carset will be available each Wednesday around 5 PM Eastern time throughout the series.
  • Use the following naming for your submitted car files:  car_123456.tga  and  car_spec_123456.mip (if used). The number sequence “123456” represents the driver’s iRacing member number.
  • When submitting a car skin, please include the following information:
    – Your name
    – Your PCA Sim Racing Class
    – Your PCA Zone
    – Your PCA Region
  • All files should be submitted in .zip or .rar compressed format.
  • Please send your file to Doug Atkinson on Discord by 12:00 PM Eastern time each Wednesday.
  • Car skins received after that time will be added to the following Event carset.

Series 6 Car Livery Templates

Participants are required to use the provided templates below. They contain custom branding for PCA Sim Racing and Series 6.

Format

A primary goal of Series 6 is to have the West Coast not start qualifying earlier than 5 PM local time, and the East Coast not run later than 11 PM. While we’re excited to be able to offer racing that doesn’t conflict with spring and summer weekend PCA events, we are mindful it is a work night for most people so we’re trying to get all four races in and work with everyone’s schedule. Download a pdf graphic of the event timetable here.

Server Name: PCA Series 6 – Challenge
7:00 PM Eastern – Practice (advanced on the 60-minute clock)
8:00 PM Eastern – Closed, Private Qualifying (advanced on the 10-minute clock)
8:10 PM Eastern – Race (30-minute race)

Server Name: PCA Series 6 – Sport
7:40 PM Eastern – Practice (advanced on the 60-minute clock)
8:40 PM Eastern – Closed, Private Qualifying (advanced on the 10-minute clock)
8:50 PM Eastern – Race (30-minute race)

Server Name: PCA Series 6 – Club
8:20 PM Eastern – Practice (advanced on the 60-minute clock)
9:20 PM Eastern – Closed, Private Qualifying (advanced on the 10-minute clock)
9:30 PM Eastern – Race (30-minute race)

Server Name: PCA Series 6 – Pro
9:00 PM Eastern – Practice (advanced on the 60-minute clock)
10:00 PM Eastern – Closed, Private Qualifying (advanced on the 10-minute clock)
10:10 PM Eastern – Race (30-minute race)

Schedule

Event 1 – Road America (Full Course)
Wednesday, April 28th

PCA Challenge   Results    iRacing results    Replay
PCA Sport    Results     iRacing results     Replay
PCA Club    Results    iRacing results      Replay
PCA Pro    Results    iRacing results      Replay

Broadcast Video

Event 2 – Watkins Glen (Boot)
Wednesday, May 5th

Broadcast Video

Event 3 – Long Beach (Street Circuit)
Wednesday, May 12th

Event 4 – Brands Hatch (Grand Prix)
Wednesday,  May 19th

Event 5 – Mid-Ohio (Full Course)
Wednesday,  May 26th

Event 6 – CTMP Mosport (Full Course)
Wednesday,  June 2nd

Event 7 – Road Atlanta (Full Course)
Wednesday,  June 9th

Event 8 – Imola (Grand Prix)
Wednesday,  June 16th

General Settings

  • No full course yellow flags
  • No scheduled pit stops
  • Starting fuel – open setting
  • Short parade laps
  • Open setups
  • One fast repair for all four classes
  • Damaged cars can be “towed” to the pits and drivers may rejoin the race after their car is repaired

Specific Class Settings

Something new for our Series racing is the “Racing Day” format. Racing will progress from early morning for PCA Challenge to midday for PCA Sport to afternoon for PCA Club to late afternoon for PCA Pro class. The weather and track settings will vary for each class. The table below shows each class’s settings.

Class Practice Starting Time Qualifying Conduct Scrutiny Temperature Sky Relative Humidity Wind Speed Practice Starting Track State iRacing Race Date Marbles Cleaned?
PCA Challenge 8:00 AM Off 65°F Clear 20% 1 MPH 10% Actual Event Date Yes
PCA Sport 11:00 AM Off 70°F Clear 30% 5 MPH 10% Actual Event Date Yes
PCA Club 2:00 PM On (Strict) Unannounced Unannounced Unannounced Unannounced Unannounced Unannounced No
PCA Pro 5:00 PM On (Strict) Unannounced Unannounced Unannounced Unannounced Unannounced Unannounced No

For Preludes, settings may be slightly different than listed above because of the combined classes in the races.-

Race Communications

As a condition of participating in the PCA Sim Racing Zone Group Challenge, drivers agree to the following items regarding communications:

  • Joining the PCA Sim Racing Discord server is now a requirement for participating in the PCA Sim Racing League.
  • The Race Stewards will communicate with drivers via the iRacing voice chat function during the event and never on Discord.
  • It is strongly recommended drivers setup multiple keys for race comms.
  • Drivers must use Push-to-talk (PTT). Tip: Don’t wait until race night to adjust this!
  • Use only the in-game voice function on iRacing during the race. Race control will not be monitoring driver channels on Discord.
  • Do not use Discord during the race unless you have a private channel with your spotter. Instead please make sure that you are using the in-game voice function on iRacing.
  • No competing driver or the driver’s spotter may enter a competitor’s private Discord channel.
  • Should a driver request a post-race meeting with Race Control for any reason, please send a Discord direct message (DM) to Doug Atkinson.
  • Post-race, the podium of each race will be interviewed by the broadcasters. Winners should join the PCA Sim Racing Discord server, the Podium eSports Category, and the Interview Waiting Room channel right away after the race.

Race Starts

  • Races start when iRacing shows the green flag / green lights.
  • There are no league restrictions about passing once the race has started.
  • iRacing AI’s race start restrictions are still in effect. Those can be found in iRacing’s FIRST Sporting Code.
  • A link to iRacing’s FIRST Sporting Code is available in iRacing under the “Help” > “Sporting Code”.

First Lap Orange Zone

  • If Race Control sees a driver hit another driver’s car regardless if it is slight contact or an outright incident, the driver will be given a one-second stop-and-go for each infraction.
  • A driver may not service their car during the penalty fulfillment.
  • If a driver does try to service their car, iRacing AI will automatically apply an additional time penalty.
  • To avoid this, uncheck all tires, fuel, and tear-offs before stopping for the penalty.

Blue Flags

  • Blue flags are advisory that a faster competitor is following you, not a mandate or directive to pull over.
  • However, a driver who does not heed a blue flag for corner-after-corner is eligible for a blocking penalty applied by the Race Stewards.

Blocking

  • You can adjust your line one time if you have someone racing for a position trying to overtake.
  • After that, you must hold that line and allow the overtaking driver the opportunity to pass.
  • That does not mean you have to lift and let them pass, you just may not swerve back and forth to block them.
  • The penalty for blocking is a drive-through.

Rejoining the Track

  • After a spin or incident, drivers must rejoin the track safely and not affect an upcoming driver’s racing line. Be patient!
  • Do not pull back onto the track without a clear line of sight for the track behind.
  • If you cannot see far enough behind you, stay off-track in the grass and slowly drive until you get to a straight section of the track where you can see ample distance behind your car.
  • Drivers should not back their cars onto the track unless there is absolutely no option.
  • A one-second stop-and-go penalty will be applied if a driver is deemed negligent in unsafe track re-entry.

Passing

  • The overtaking driver has the primary responsibility for the completion of a clean, safe pass but…
    • the driver being overtaken cannot alter his line to block the (faster) overtaking car.
    • the driver being overtaken cannot alter his line to impede the (faster) overtaking car.
    • the overtaken driver cannot brake-check the faster overtaking car.
  • The overtaking driver cannot turn in and squeeze the overtaken driver that’s on the inside of a corner and force them off track.
  • PCA Sim Racing uses Section 5 of the F1Metrics article, The Rules of Racing to address who owns the racing line.

Incident Points

  • Drivers will be allowed up to 15 incident points during each race.
  • After 15+ points (e.g., 16), each driver will receive a drive-through penalty.
  • A drive-through penalty will be applied for each additional 5 incident points thereafter (e.g., at 21 and 26 incident points, etc.)
  • Once a driver receives 30+ incident points they will be retired from competition in the race by the iRacing AI official. This will be an automatic function and will trigger once a driver hits 31 points.
  • Because iRacing works on “no-fault”, both drivers involved in a contact incident will receive incident points.
  • All races in the Zone Group Challenge will use these same Incident Points settings.
  • The Steering Committee reserves the right to adjust the Incident Points on a per race basis.
  • Important! Incident Points are defined in iRacing’s FIRST Sporting Code. A link is available in iRacing under the “Help” > “Sporting Code”.
  • Race Stewards reserve the right to disqualify any driver who is driving intentionally recklessly or intentionally driving in a retaliatory manner.
  • A driver intentionally driving recklessly or intentionally driving in a retaliatory manner may be reviewed by the Race Stewards.
  • Race Stewards may apply a penalty up to and including being banned from the Series.
  • Regarding the severity and application of penalties, Race Stewards will apply punitive measures IN-RACE commensurate with the infraction.
  • Race Stewards will also consider the flagrancy and impact on other drivers involved in an incident.
  • IN-RACE penalties assigned by Race Stewards may include a loss of a finishing position — or finishing positions — in the current race results before results become official.
  • Race Stewards have the authority to DISQUALIFY (DQ) a driver, as noted.
  • If necessary, finishing positions will be changed and points altered to reflect a disqualification.

Race Incidents

  • Incidents will be reviewed and penalties applied IN-RACE by Race Control.
  • If an IN-RACE review and penalty are not possible, POST-RACE review will be provided as Incident Race Reports (IRRs).

Penalties

The following penalties will be applied in the race by iRacing AI and/or Race Control.

A drive-through penalty

  • tire warming
  • brake warming
  • blocking
  • more than 15+ iRacing incident points during a race
  • each additional 5 iRacing incident points beyond 15+ points (e.g., 16) during a race

To clear a drive-through penalty, a driver must enter the pit lane under green track conditions with no other black flags, and pass through the whole pit lane without stopping in their pit stall. This action will clear the drive-through penalty as the driver passes the pit exit.

A drive-through penalty cannot be cleared if entering the pits while the track is under caution, but if a caution comes out while a driver is already in the pitlane trying to serve a drive-through penalty, the penalty will still clear successfully.

A one-second stop-and-go penalty

  • an Orange Zone penalty
  • unsafe re-entry onto the track

A one-second stop-and-go penalty requires the driver to enter their pit, stop at their pit for one second then exit.

  • The penalized driver is prohibited from servicing the car at this time.
  • Drivers must uncheck all pitstop mechanics in the black box on iRacing, e.g., tires, fuel, etc.
  • Each penalty requiring a stop-and-go shall be considered as separate and distinct infractions and shall not be combined.

A ten-second stop-and-go penalty

  • causing an accident.

A ten-second stop-and-go penalty requires the driver to enter their pit, stop at their pit for ten seconds then exit.

  • The penalized driver is prohibited from servicing the car at this time.
  • Drivers must uncheck all pitstop mechanics in the black box on iRacing, e.g., tires, fuel, etc.
  • Each penalty requiring a stop-and-go shall be considered as separate and distinct infractions and shall not be combined.

A thirty-second stop-and-go penalty

  • causing an accident where a competitor is forced to retire their car.

A thirty-second stop-and-go penalty requires the driver to enter their pit, stop at their pit for thirty seconds then exit.

  • The penalized driver is prohibited from servicing the car at this time.
  • Drivers must uncheck all pitstop mechanics in the black box on iRacing, e.g., tires, fuel, etc.
  • Each penalty requiring a stop-and-go shall be considered as separate and distinct infractions and shall not be combined.

Retirement from the race

The following items will be justification for a driver’s retirement.

  • causing 3 accidents in a race
  • acquiring 30+ incident points
  • unsportsmanlike retaliation on voice comms or by driving directly into a competitor
  • a driver running so severely off the pace that it endangers other competitors
  • a major, unresolvable problem with a driver’s Internet connection
  • intentional wrecking or spinning of another car will not be allowed

The following criteria will be justification for a driver’s probation from the series.

  • causing 3 accidents in a single race
  • unsportsmanlike conduct
  • driving with disregard for the rules at the discretion of the Stewards

Probation would last 1 race.

  • If the driver causes another crash during the probation period, he will have his invitation to the league revoked for one week. During that week, the driver must complete at least one more eDE session and at least one Interlude or Prelude Wednesday night event (re-certify).
  • After completing the re-certification and being “signed off” by the eDE Manager or his surrogate, a new invitation to join the league will be extended to the driver. Note that during the interim period, a driver is strongly encouraged to attend an additional Interlude and/or Prelude events or solicit additional help from the eDE team.

Serving & Clearing Penalties

  • The Steering Committee and eDE instructors recently conducted an extended testing session to simulate all possible scenarios that may incur a black flag penalty. We confirm that the method to which a penalty should be served is aligned with what is already stated in the series rules.
  • Given however the complexity of penalty mechanics by iRacing AI we provide additional context and directions for serving a penalty as follows.

To Serve a Penalty

A. Follow the penalty instructions iRacing tells you to do.

  • If iRacing tells you to “Drive-Through”, do exactly that.
  • If iRacing tells you to “Stop and Go” for x amount of time, do exactly that.
  • If you receive a Drive-Through penalty but decide to stop at your pit box, iRacing AI will NOT clear your penalty and it will force you to actually “drive-through” without stopping next time.
  • If you’re using Crew Chief, when in doubt – do what iRacing tells you to do, not Crew Chief.

B. Do not service your car under a black flag penalty.

  • By “NO SERVICE” we mean: “Uncheck” all the boxes in the service/fuel black box (F4 & F5 keys). Make sure you do not take tires in the “tires” black box. Taking service of any kind will add time to your penalty.
  • A driver may not receive service when the driver is serving a black flag penalty (all services unchecked meaning… fuel, tires, the windshield tear-off, and fast repair… are unchecked at the pit box).
  • Doing so may subject the driver to additional in-race or post-race penalties.
  • iRacing AI will assess additional time specific to the track and race conditions if a service is taken while serving a black flag penalty. This additional time is the same regardless of whether you’re just taking a tear-off or a full pitstop.
  • Example 1: You receive a 30-second penalty but as you enter the pits, the windshield tear-off box is checked – you’ll be held for an additional time (as assessed by iRacing AI). If that additional time was 50 seconds, you’d serve a total of 80 seconds.
  • Example 2: You receive a 30-second penalty but as you enter the pits, Crew Chief automatically activates your auto-refuel. Unless you uncheck the fuel before you stop, you will refuel and iRacing AI will assess an additional time penalty against you.
  • Example 3: You receive a drive-through penalty, but decide to stop in your pit, and take fuel. iRacing AI will not clear the drive-through penalty because you’ve stopped and serviced your car. You will need to drive through the pits again to clear your drive-through penalty.
  • C. Do not assume that Race Control has any idea of the reason for your penalty if it was applied by the iRacing AI system. Race Control will see a penalty is applied by iRacing, but will not know the reason for it until after the race has completed.

Driver Championship

  • There will be a Series 6 Driver Championship for each of the 4 PCA Sim Racing classifications.
  • All eight events count towards the Series 6 Driver Championship in each PCA Sim Racing classification.
  • Ties and tie-breaker decisions are defined in the FIRST Sporting Code under Individual and Team Championships, the Championship Points Tie Breaker section. A link is also available to FIRST Sporting Code in iRacing under the “Help” > “Sporting Code”.
  • Points within each class will be awarded according to the single points matrix below, i.e., points paid for positions 1 through 60.
Pos. Pts. Pos. Pts. Pos. Pts. Pos. Pts.
1 320 16 230 31 140 46 50
2 314 17 224 32 134 47 44
3 308 18 218 33 128 48 38
4 302 19 212 34 122 49 32
5 296 20 206 35 116 50 26
6 290 21 200 36 110 51 20
7 284 22 194 37 104 52 14
8 278 23 188 38 98 53 8
9 272 24 182 39 92 54 7
10 266 25 176 40 86 55 6
11 260 26 170 41 80 56 5
12 254 27 164 42 74 57 4
13 248 28 158 43 68 58 3
14 242 29 152 44 62 59 2
15 236 30 146 45 56 60 > 1

Driver Conduct

  • PCA Sim Racing is dedicated to Sportsmanship and Camaraderie.
  • Verbal abuse, including the use of profanity and calling out others in a derogatory manner (passively or actively), is inconsistent with these concepts. Verbal abuse, whether of a fellow driver or a Race Steward, will not be tolerated.
  • Profanity is unacceptable and inconsistent with Sportsmanship and Camaraderie. Neither is acceptable.
  • The first offense may/will result in a warning.
  • The second offense may/will result in disqualification from the race in which the verbal abuse occurs.
  • The third offense may/will result in disqualification from the league.
  • Any use of profanity may result in disqualification from the league – even on a first instance.

Celebration

  • Drivers are welcome to celebrate their accomplishments post-race (e.g., spinning donuts) but the celebration should never impede drivers still on track who have not taken the checkered flag.

Technical Issues

  • Any driver who has a bad connection will be alerted by the Race Stewards and may be asked to park their car in the pits until the problem is resolved.
  • If there is an additional problem or their connection remains unstable, they will, unfortunately, need to leave the server so it does not affect the race quality for other competitors.
  • Any driver leaving the server because of connection issues is welcome to rejoin the race once they have resolved their Internet problem by rebooting their computer, their router, or reducing the load on their home connection.
  • Drivers with a poor internet connection may be removed from the race.
  • Do not connect to a PCA Sim Racing event via a wireless connection and use only Ethernet cabled connections.