Event Format

We typically hold an official event every week.  Our race sessions typically consist of multiple races on one track.  Each season (of which we have several per year) consists of a predetermined track rotation and schedule, from which we rarely deviate once the season is under way, although we purposefully incorporate changes between seasons.

Server

• We host a dedicated rFactor server for all league activities.
• location: rfactor.gridmotorsports.com
• It's generally online 24/7, excepting for brief downtime when it's being updated or reconfigured.
• It's configured for open (non password-protected) practice sessions at all times other than when we're conducting an official league event.
• During official league events, the server is password-protected.  The password will be provided to members when they join the league.

Schedule

• race day is (currently) Saturday, with an official start time of 21:00UTC
• drivers meeting -- immediately preceding the first race is an informal drivers meeting (online - via TeamSpeak and the in-game chat) intended to provide an opportunity to remind everyone of the league's event rules, indoctrinate new drivers to the policies and procedures, and to allow brief Q&A regarding anything germane to the event (rule clarifications, venue/track issues, etc..).  This session may overlap with the qualification session of the first race, but should not otherwise interfere with the start of the event.
  

• 3-4 sprint races
• 1 feature race
• After the event is completed, we generally immediately switch the server over to the track for the next week's event.
  

Configuration

The following configuration settings are fixed for all races during the event:

• tire wear is usually set to 3x (this complements our mod's tire wear curves and gives us the flexibility of adjusting the wear rate either up or down depending on event goals)
  
• fuel usage is set to 3x
• mechanical failures are set to 'Normal'
• damage is set to 100% for sprints and 25% for the feature race
  
• all aids are enabled, unless specified well in advance of the event, with the exception of invulnerability and stability control (SC) which are always disabled
  

Sprint Races

• a short qualifying session, typically with a time limit (~5-7 minutes, depending on track length)
  
• standing start
• a fixed length race lasting about 10 minutes (the lap count for the race is adjusted according to track length)
• the results of each sprint contribute to the league rolling rankings
  

Feature Race

• a qualifying session with no lap limit (15 minutes)
• a 10 minute warmup/intermission
  

• formation lap followed by a standing start
  
• a fixed length race lasting about 40 minutes (the lap count for the race is adjusted according to track length)
• the time scale is adjusted so that the race will transpire within 2-6 hours of game time
• like the sprints, the results of the race contribute to the league rolling rankings
• unlike the sprints, season championship points are awarded based on the results of the race

Ideally, we like to have the entire session occupy no more than about 2.5-3 hours.  The sprints serve the critical role of granularizing the session into a reasonable number of opportunities for the drivers, thus mitigating the frustration associated with mishaps or failures, since the entire race session isn't invested in a single event.  The feature race enables an experience that has more of the trappings of a real-life race (pit stops, etc.), and to provide an opportunity to employ deeper racecraft and strategy.  Also, the feature races are the  means by which we conduct our seasonal championships - the Driver Championship (DC) and Team Championship (TC).  Note that the available point pool for the feature race is generally equivalent to that of any given sprint, so there is no added 'penalty' for doing poorly in a feature race, in terms of the rolling rankings.