I’ve been giving some thought to the way we do racing in EP TC and in particular to the way we do qualifying – these are only thoughts at this stage – maybe a discussion promoter – nothing for anyone to get upset about, naturally comments are welcome.
At, say the Qld Titles, we have 6 rounds of qualifying and only 3 rounds of finals. Doesn’t seem right to me. Watching some other forms of motorsport and how the big boys do qualifying I thought maybe we should think about a change.
Proposal 1.
Run 2 rounds of qualifying and then regrade based on each drivers one fastest result. After the regrade discard the results of the first 2 qualifiers – they are only used for regrading for the next step.
Run 2 more rounds of qualifying and take each drivers fastest result for another regrade. This is then the positions for the finals. Top 10 or 12 or 15 make the A final next group of 10 or 12 or 15 whatever make the B final and so on. These final starting positions are kept aside and used for splitting ties if necessary.
Finals.
A final 5 races with best 3 to count on a points basis
B final 3 races with best 2 to count on a points basis
C final D final etc etc 1 race each.
Notes
On a track like Brendale we could probably accomodate a 15 car A final while Bayside might be a 10 car for example – I don’t think 10 should be a mandatory upper limit, especially in the B’s etc were they can result in 1 or 2 drivers not getting a final at all.
Above system would give slightly more run time to finals than to qualifying, for the A’s at least.
CLUB EVENTS
AT most club events these days we do 3 rounds of qualifying and 1 final – so thats about 15 minutes to qualify for 5 minutes of racing – again that seems a bit lop sided to me.
Without stretching the day out we could easily go 2 qualifiers and 2 finals – stretching the day a bit would go 2 shorter qualifers and 3 finals.
The other thing we could think about, if we were in the mood for change, is qualifying for lesser times say 3 minutes or a set laps say 10 laps and then use the time saved to increase the finals times to say 8 minutes (540, stock and superstock, not sure how mod would go with an increase at all ).
Maybe I could borrow a track and run a meet using some of these ideas toward the end of the year see how it pans out.
What do you think ?
Stories from the world of RC car racing
23 responses to “Sticky: Qualifying EP Touring Cars”
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other states also do club meets that have more than one final, I personally like this way better 🙂
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I`ll give anything a go Heavy maybe we could try one of your ideas in the F1 series!! 😉
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Bayside today ran 3 qualifiers and 3 finals. Worked well. More finals, the better. 😎
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I like the progressive qualifying idea of proposal A. f1 style!
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Good ideas Heavy. They say change is as good as a holiday; so no harm in trying IMO 💡
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Even though numbers were down at Bayside yesterday the drivers seemed to like the 3 heat 3 final idea. Maybe a longer 3rd based on combined times from finals 1 and 2. it was definitely fun to watch.
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HI Heavy
If you are looking for a track to do your trials you have it here at Bayside. Yesterday 3 heats and 3 finals worked well (I thought) but have not spoken to the Electric chaps yet. Hopefully I will have learnt the computer and you can use it as well. If it makes the sport more appealing. Lets do it
DougLikeLike
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3 q’s at 5mins and 2 Finals at 6 minutes for stock?
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2 quals, 3 finals.
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3 qual ( 1set of tyres ), 3 finals ( 2sets of tyres ). 💡
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I don’t know the ins and outs of the computer systems used, but maybe that would be the limiting factor?
Unless all the sorting etc was done manually, but even that still is a big pain.LikeLike
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There is no problem doing anything I have suggested using Alycat .
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I like the idea of shorter qualifiers, or a limited number of laps.
For the finals I don’t know what a solution is. To me, the final is the climax of the race event, but with electric you have three finals.
I wonder if it is possible to run quarters/semis/finals instead of qualifying then finals.
When I get over my flu I will sit down and work something out.LikeLike
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Hi Doug, thanks for the offer – teh hard part will be finding a weekend I reckon
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more racing!
Great idea.LikeLike
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Gee after today at Bayside I’m even more convinced. I know they are getting ready for the Non titles but 3 staggered start qualifiers at a club event and then 3 finals. The qualifers were boring as and teh finals were absolutely fantastic. If there is that much tima available why can’t we just have 6 races – count your best 4 or 5 I don’t really care but lets just race.
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Like Shev said…more races = more fun!
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YES ….RACES..not time trials
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How about one qual to stack the grid. Then 4 or 5 finals.. drop your worst
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How about 10 or 15 minutes of open qualifying time for each class – like the big boys – go out and do your fast laps whenever you want in the 15 minutes.
Then races from thatLikeLike
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How about 5 heats consisting of a grid start with grid positions drawn from a hat for 4 heats. Then a reverse grid for the 5th heat based on combined times from the 1st 4. Drop one heat for the final except for the reverse grid and have a mad dash in the final. That’d sort the Men/Women from the Boys/Girls and at the very least would at least be entertaining. And it is all about fun. Nothing better for a spectator than hearing laughter and good humored banter amongst the drivers on the stand during a race. Try it at a club cup meet. Any club.
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Grid starts with random grid positions can easily be handled by teh computer – no need for a hat 😆
Reverse grids (been tried before) create the same kind of carnage that they create in full size racing – might be fun for spectators but not fun for the people paying for the repairs.LikeLike
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One thing I used to do when I ran Friday night at Brendale was, club members would start all heats were they finished last race meeting, visiting gun drivers would start 2nd or 3rd or the front of the b heat, fastest 10 to A final.
This was Gas racing but it could be used to grade drivers earlier, for club racing where grid starts are used I can’t see a problem with 3 qualifiers and 1 or 2 finals there all head to head races.
At title events qualifying is about getting the best ten or so to race in the finals.
How much do you limit qualifying before drivers complain they didn’t get a fair chance, my guess would be 4 rounds if it’s staggered start then 5 finals with the best 3 to count.
Or after 4 rounds the top 5 go to the A final and the next 10 race off for a spot in the A final, the next 10 can race off for the bottom 5 in the b final etc.
I don’t think head to head racing can be used to qualify for the finals, there are to many variables that aren’t there in 1 to 1 size racing.
Another way could be fastest lap or fastest 2 or 3 consecutive laps in your 5 minute qualifying heats, regrades after every 2 rounds to get the fastest drivers in the top heats.
I don’t think there’s a best way, I think all the above ways you would end up with pretty well the same top ten in the A.LikeLike
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