Event cancelled due to low interestOpen 

rallymorten

rallymorten

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Denmark
Upside-down in the final corner
rallymorten
RACE logo small-midsize.png


presents..

ah4hl-png.124147


4 Hours of Apricot Hill


Table of content

- Event Introduction
- Room Settings
- Qualifying Procedure
- Start Procedure
- Code Of Conduct
- Safety Car
- Allowed Cars, Registered Drivers & Registration
- Tyre Regulations
- Prizes

Event Introduction

The 4 Hours of Apricot Hill is a RACE original event based on the dream of a major endurance race to celebrate Apricot Hill's return to the GT franchise. Starting in 2014, pending interest in the project, this event may turn into an annual event held around Easter. Would you want to be known as the first ever winner?

Notice: Laps will be set 200, but the race will end after 4 hours (04:05:00.000 on the timer).

Room Settings

Customised qualifying system
Friends only
Race for Real
Race Quality: High
Voice chat: Off
Fixed room host: No
Spaces in room: 16
Boost: Off
Penalty: Off
Tyre wear: Normal
Grip reduction: Real
Damage: Visible, heavy
Slipstream: Real
Driving AID's: All except ABS disallowed

Track settings:

Qualifying sessions:
Time: 12:00
Time acceleration: 1
Weather: 0% (clear)
Weather changeability: 0
Track wetness: 0%

Race:

Time: 15:30
Time acceleration: 1
Weather: 25% (Partly cloudy)
Weather changeability: 10/60
Track wetness: 0%

Time table

Qualifying session 1: Friday, April 25 @ 6 PM BST
Qualifying session 2: Saturday, April 26 @ 10 AM BST

No more entering room: Saturday, April 26 @ 6 PM BST

Qualifying Procedure

Qualifying is a litte unusual at the 4 Hours of Apricot Hill. Here, it is not as simple as a 10 minute qualifying in which you're only seeing the times of the other drivers.

At the race weekend, there will be two pre-race qualifying sessions, one on Friday evening and one Saturday afternoon. Every driver may only participate in one of these sessions. The settings will be the exact same for both sessions to ensure equal competition. These sessions will be 30 minute time trials in which you will appear as the only car on track.

The 10 fastest drivers cross-session will be granted entry to the race qualifying, which will be done with the built-in qualifying mode, and it will last 15 minutes. In this session, drivers will be joined by up to two automatic invites from the International Touring Car Championship, those being the two first of the overall top 3 to accept their invite. If there is only one or less who wish to accept the invite, the amount of drivers progressing from qualifying will rise until a total car number of 12 is reached.

Start Procedure

The 4 Hours of Apricot Hill will use a manual, double-file rolling start. The start must follow these rules:

- Cars start in the same line as they were on the "original" grid. E.g. if the pole position on a track is to the left on the grid, then so shall the pole position during the rolling start, and the entire warm-up lap.
- The cars should line up similar to this:

View attachment 119108

Meaning that the front end of the cars in 2nd, 4th etc. should be approx. 2/5th down the side of the car in 1st, 3rd etc. The front of the car starting next row (3rd, 5th etc.) should be between 1 and 2 car lengths behind the car directly ahead. This means the start will be close, and you'll need to take extra caution in the first few corners.

- The race starts once the car in pole position crosses the start/finish line. This is also the case for restarts, except these are single file.

Notice: When the race starts, you must keep your car in the grid slot for the first two minutes. After this, the rolling start, which will take roughly 3 minutes, will begin.

Code Of Conduct

Behavior in public spaces:

When in public spaces, such as :gtplanet: or the race lounge, you will speak in a proper tone and not use foul language. Using foul language will not be tolerated. Telling people they're "fast as 🤬 " or similar is excepted.

You may discuss the events of the race, but you must keep the tone positive.

Behavior in-race:

When the race has started, you may no longer use text chat. Using text chat when in race, be it in a Safety Car phase or not, may be distracting for other drivers and will be penalised. The only case in which you are allowed to use text-chat is to ask for a Safety Car phase (see Safety Car section) or to vote for re-entry (after disconnections).

Disconnect procedure:

Let's face it, we're playing a game with somewhat unreliable servers, and disconnections are bound to happen. Therefore, a disconnection policy has been created. The message must not contain any specific information.

- If you disconnect (DC) during the race, you must send a private message to the race direction (me) via. PlayStation Network.
- Upon receiving a notification of a DC, a safety car session will be called (see below section).
- During this session, a voting will be held in the lobby. In this poll, drivers will be asked whether to "restart" the race to allow re-entering the room or whether to carry on.
- To vote "Yes, allow re-entry by ending the current 'session'", type "y". To vote "No, let's keep racing regardless", type "n". Apart from these two commands, any typing during the safety car period will be classified as described in "behaviour in-race".
- The disconnected driver may rejoin the room during the poll, but the decision to carry on/allow re-entry is all for the drivers on-track to make.

NOTICE: If a re-entry is decided upon, the track will be set to the settings closest to at time of calling the re-entry. The time taken in this process will be deducted from on-track time (so that the race keeps to the scheduled finish-time).

NOTICE: Disconnections in the last 30 minutes will not be up for voting. They will, though, be classified as having finished the race.

Safety Car

A Safety Car will be present for the 4 Hours of Apricot Hill. The job of the Safety Car is to reset the race in case of a major accident.

When the Safety Car goes "on duty", it will confirm so on the text chat. It will then pick up whichever car is next in line, even if this is the car in last place. From the very moment a SC phase has been announced, overtaking is illegal.

The Safety Car will keep a pace speed of about 100 km/h / 60 mph while "on duty". When it is time for the race to return to race pace, the SC will briefly, on the front straight, accelerate in order to make aware of this on the text chat. You shall not attempt to keep up once this happens!

When the SC phase ends, the SC will accelerate to about 160 km/h / 100 mph about 750 meters before the pit entry. The drivers, however, will keep the pace speed of approx. 100 km/h / 60 mph until the first driver in line crosses the start/finish line, at which point the race continues. Restarts are single-file, with cars keeping about 10 meters between them (approx. 2 car lengths).

Safety Car Glossary

Driver-called:

C - A driver requests a SC phase due to a crash
W - A driver requests a SC phase due to bad weather (only available at 85% flooding or greater)

SC-called:

SC - The Safety Car will deploy right away
GG - The Safety Car will return to the pits, leaving the race to go back to green/race pace

Allowed Cars, Registered Drivers & Registration

Cars in the 4 Hours of Apricot Hill will be as follows:

Chevrolet Corvette C5-R '00
Spec: 562 HP, 1260 kg
1:
2:
3:
4:

SRT Viper GTS-R Team Oreca '00 (both versions)
Spec: 542 HP, 1260 kg
1: ITCC_Andrew / MrMelancholy15 (1)
2:
3:
4:

Ford GT LM Spec II Race Car
Spec: 542 HP, 1260 kg
1:
2:
3:
4:

Jaguar XJ220 LM Race Car
Spec: 542 HP, 1260 kg
1:
2:
3:
4:​

Lamborghini NOMAD Diablo GT-1 '00
Spec: 542 HP, 1260 kg
1:
2:
3:
4:​

Nissan Fairlady Z LM Race Car
Spec: 542 HP, 1260 kg
1: turbo_snail / boy-wonder_200 (1)
2:
3:
4:​

Pagani Zonda LM Race Car
Spec: 542 HP, 1260 kg
1: BenBilly / BenBilly2011 (2)
2:
3:
4:

Key: GTP ID / PSN ID (Qualifying session)​

In order to register for the event, fill in this form

Tyre Regulations

The primary tire is Racing Hard, with Racing Medium available as a secondary compound. Both tyre types may be used at any point during the race week. You should, though, be aware of the following:

- Each car is given 4 sets of Racing Hard and 3 sets of Racing Medium for the race.
- Should you, for some reason, have to pit again within or on the 5th lap after getting a completely new set of tyres, you can select the same tyre compound again. As there is no major difference between worn and fresh that far in, it will be considered that you did not change tyres. NOTICE: On the 6th lap after first getting a new set, you'll begin a new set, no exceptions.
- Both tyre types must be used for at least 30% of the race distance. This means no less than 72 minutes (1 hour and 12 minutes).
- Wet tyres are unlimited
- For every extra tyre set used, you will receive a 20 second penalty. This will be added to your final time.

Prizes

Unfortunately, it is impossible to, through gifting, provide prize cars in Gran Turismo 6. You will, though, be put on the list of people who have a prize in favor.​
 
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Special organizer's note: ITCC Run-offs for the weekend of Apr. 26th have been postponed until May 3rd. Signing up for this event will NOT affect ITCC run-offs.


Thanks,
Andrew
 
It's funny that you talk about a leaf and you're considering choosing the Nissan :lol: 👍

I'm hoping to have a test room up this coming weekend, for testing and interest-gathering :)
 
Obviously I am interested but reading through it I think I have spotted a flaw:

Say you take damage, pit, then take damage again on the next lap. Then you need to pit again. Basically if you take damage constantly and need to pit you end up using up all your sets of tyres through pitting - you could use them all up after just 7 laps!

Also how do you plan to regulate these tyre rules? Have you tested the rough duration of each tyre so you know there are enough sets to make it to the end?
 
Morten, you put me in the Ford? :odd: you torture me. :lol:


Siggers, Blake, excellent to have you, and you do have a point, Siggers. But, I am pretty sure Morten already considered that.


If not, my suggestion is that tires should be considered "changed" after a minimum number of laps. So, if you take damage on your out-lap, it wouldn't count, but if you did take damage, let's say 20 laps after your outlap, maybe that should count as a new set.
 
I just feel more comfortable with FR. The last thing I'd want, is to accidentally spin, and damage someone else's car. MR is just weird, for me.
 
Has anyone tried driving these things in the wet yet? When I drove my rwd ITCC BMW it was almost impossible at 30%+ standing water, spinning out as soon as I even touched the throttle
 
It does get a bit more difficult once the track gets wet, but then again, so does real life racing. It's all about finesse on the throttle :)
 
Maybe I just suck in the wet then lol :crazy: personally I would find it annoying if the rain comes and turns the race completely on its head :indiff:

@ITCC_Andrew what # viper are you using? if I pick it I don't want us to clash numbers lol
 
Siggers
Maybe I just suck in the wet then lol :crazy: personally I would find it annoying if the rain comes and turns the race completely on its head :indiff:

@ITCC_Andrew what # viper are you using? if I pick it I don't want us to clash numbers lol
Click to expand...
#51 - my personal number. It's been on my kart, car and (eventually) probably my helmet. :)

Also, Siggers, I could send you my GT6 rain-driving tips. Check out that Tsukuba seasonal for proof that I know my stuff on wet tracks. ;)
 
You can sign me up (car still tbd) but I can't confirm my participation yet.

Another thing to bare in mind though is that based on previous @rallymorten endurance race events: not all of the drivers who signed up actually showed up, and then only 2/3 to 3/4 of the drivers even finished the full race distance, and then only a small handful of the cars that did finish were in close, competitive positions. What I mean by that is basically the finishing positions for most drivers was pretty much decided within the first hour or so of the race.
On average then only an interesting race for 3 or 4 cars out of about 6 finishing from 10 starting from like 14 registered, with those drivers that also continued to the end outside the 'competitive group' just being bored out of their skulls.

Now considering they were shorter races (1.5-2hrs); this event is over double that length, which means that the above happenings are more likely to occur more prominently. So it's really only worth the time (for my time at least) if there is pretty much a full grid of drivers that show up, with the majority being well regarded as being of decent quality (i.e has previous endurance racing experience). Oh and also we need a good solid host (who is planning to host btw?) and no/minimal invisible driver issues.

Also with the race duration there are likely to be disconnects, I can't see any mention of a disconnection procedure?
Maybe it would be a good idea to have a few practice sprint races the week before the race? 4 hours seems too long if there just isn't enough interest.

I really like the race idea but can you see how there are things you need to think about still? All of the above is just off the top of my head and I am just trying to help you guys put together a better race experience for the participants.

So really only if these things are pretty much addressed and I can make the time slot will I be confirming my entry.

Edit: oh and also in all the previous races with the safety car I have NEVER seen it used, I myself was the only one ever occasionally typing 'c' in the chat.

Edit Edit: You guys are aware of the pit bug right? Some cars handle significantly differently on a new set of tyres where as some have hardly any difference. Has this been taken into consideration during testing? I am assuming the cars are currently all balanced (hopefully:rolleyes:)
 
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I'll sign up with andrews team and I'll just go ahead and say don't count on me being there but it's possible for sure.
 
@Siggers

I'm putting a disconnect-procedure together, with the options currently at hand being treating a disconnection as an engine failure or to call a temporary red flag to allow rejoining. I'll be updating the OP with the finished version of this within the week. Also, I plan to host, using my wired connection 👍

As for the sign-up-don't-show'ers, I'd wish for there to be some way of reporting them so as to make them care about the race(s), but there's not much that can be done. Apart from badmouthing them on status updates and racing series they take part in, that is :lol:

I'm well aware of the cursed pits, and while i did find that some cars handled differently to others, they should be similar-ish once the setups for this situation come in or, preferably, when PD manages to fix that bug
 
TheYaShoe
But what if I legit don't know, and it's just a possibility that I will or will not show up :/
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How I define sign-up-no-show:

Lookin' good, I'm definitely in for this.

Doesn't make a sound for two weeks nor show up at race day.

If you, in reasonable time, make aware that you might (not) be able to make it, it's a different case ;)
 
TheYaShoe
I'll sign up with Andrew's team and I'll just go ahead and say don't count on me being there but it's possible for sure.
Click to expand...

Longest sentence of the year.
Also, excellent, I have a teammate....... What sucks is that you're actually fast enough to give me a run for my money, or worse. :odd: what'cha playin' at? :lol:
 
Preliminary disconnect procedure added to the OP (Code of Conduct section). Anything I forgot to mention? :)
 
I'm in contact with a possible safety car driver who hasn't yet finally confirmed whether or not he'll be able to make it, but if you, during a practice session I should be hosting next week (in which we'll try a few SC scenarios), can prove yourself to be worthy of it, you can be the backup 👍
 
Due to the current amount of registrations (3 at the time of writing this), the 4 Hours of Apricot Hill is likely to be added to my good-ideas-nobody-gave-a-🤬-about-list (I know some of you are interested but unable to attend on the day. I'm not talking to you nor those who have registered). So, unless there are 16 "full-time" entries by Tuesday at midday BST (click to see how long to go), the event will be cancelled, as I see no reason for 3 drivers to race for four full hours. On the other hand, though, signing up just to see this happening and not show up on raceday (without making aware of it 24 hours prior to the start of the race, we all know how quickly life changes. If you're hospitalised on race day, even if it's after the initial deadline, let us know) will result in an instant ban from all RACE events taking place over the next three months.

Thank you for taking your time to read this.
 

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