SE Supplementary Rules, etc

#1

SE SpecE30 supplementary rules

  1. Racing Room. Defined as full car width. This is true for all SE Lightning classes.

  2. Right to be there. This is triggered with any over-lap at all. Therefore you cannot use overlap to squeeze another SpecE30 off of the track. Be advised, however, that this is not a license to stick your nose in and expect people to make room for you. The intent of this rule is to prevent squeezing as a deliberate defensive move, it does not green-light an offensive move.

  3. Actions upon losing control of your car. Violations of this paragraph will result in NASA para 27.11 penalties

    a. Both feet in. If you lose control of your car, lock up your wheels. This will make the motion of your car more predictable. If you come back on track into traffic and your wheels are turning, you are wrong.

    b. Safely re-enter the track. If you go off and there’s lots of traffic, take a deep breath and wait until there is room for you to re-enter the track. Charging back on to a busy track is reckless.

  4. Saturday Qual grid is organized by best lap times at the track in the last couple years. Qual Grid will be posted at Results – High Performance Driving in the Southeast and Scott will have a copy taped to his trailer. Sunday Race Grids are set by best Sat race lap time.

  5. Everyone goes to Impound after all timed sessions. If some well-meaning person directs you to do otherwise, find a way to defeat them and get to Impound.

NASA-SE Supplementary rules SE Supplemental Regulations - Google Docs

A couple key paragraphs.

5.2.1 Race NASA SE Major Penalty
Any incident as determined by the Officials, Flaggers or NASA Southeast Staff which is considered to be a “Major” incident, including serious vehicular or bodily damage will be subject to the following ruling at a minimum.
-One (1) Race Suspension at the next race weekend in which he or she participates. This meaning that he/she cannot race/DE/etc on the first day of a 2 day event where he participates on the 2nd day. If it’s a Sat/Sun race event, he cannot participate on the Friday open practice nor the Saturday race/de, and must race on Sunday.
-One (1) Year Probation, any kind of incident or erratic driving will lead immediately to a 1 year suspension.

5.3 Race NASA SE Incident Reporting
All on track incidents must be reported by both sides to the Race Director, as soon as possible after the conclusion of the race, within 30 minutes. Failure to report to the Race Director will result in a (3) point penalty added to your driving record.

NASA CCR worth noting.
NASA Para 27.11 recommended penalties.

  1. Contact bumper to bumper with no deviation and no damage: No penalty
  2. Any sheet metal contact with no damage and no deviation: No penalty
  3. Any contact causing deviation, with no damage, but loss of a position: Reposition to behind driver contacted
  4. Any contact resulting in “damage” as defined by these guidelines: One (1) race suspension
  5. Any contact resulting in a “punt” as defined by these guidelines: Disqualification
  6. Any contact resulting in damage and punt: Disqualification and one (1) race suspension
  7. Passing under a standing yellow or double yellow: Reposition to last place (minimum)
  8. Passing under waving yellow and / or over-driving any yellow: Disqualification (minimum)
  9. Ignoring black flag for 3 laps: Disqualification (minimum)
#2

NASA-SE video rule. If you are asked for video of a timed session and you can’t produce it, you are DQ’d.

Since SpecE30 is already required to have video, all this means is that your system needs to be reliable. My camera is turned on by the Traqmate so that video and data are automatically synched. But for some reason that I’ve never been able to pin down, the camera is sometimes not turned on. That’s why I have a 2nd camera that I turn on manually. Since my Mobius cameras cost ~$80, it’s a trivial expense.

#3
#4

There’s been some confusion on this so maybe it’s worth elaborating on.

The intent of the rule is to stop defensive squeezing but not offer an opportunity to “stick one’s nose in.”

So how do you tell the difference?

Sticking one’s nose in and expecting others to immediately accommodate is a surprise move. If I’m 3 car lengths back in a braking zone, dart to the inside and manage to get my nose in at the turn-in point, you might not have seen my move, or maybe I gave you no opportunity to adjust your plan for the corner. What I did was unexpected and we might well meet at the turn’s apex. That was sticking my nose in and expecting you to show your belly. The rule does not give license to stick your nose in.

Next scenario. On a straight away I come up and get alongside you. As we turn in on the next turn, me on the outside, I’m getting ahead a bit. We both battle thru the turn, side by side, but I’m inching forward and I’m also squeezing you towards the inside track edge because I don’t want to be near the outside of the turn.

5 long seconds go by, as we battle side by side thru this sweeping turn and I’m making this pass on the outside work. One second I’m gaining a foot, the next second I’m losing 6". Finally I decide that I’ve got 2" of clearance and I swoop towards the very inside of the track to shut the door on you. But in the final second you win back 6" and we are overlapped again. I’ve squeezed you to the absolute edge of the track, but it’s a long turn and the fight for position is not over. We’ve 4" of overlap and by squeezing you to the inside track edge, I’ve removed any ability you had to move further inside and give me room. Because I moved over prematurely, I punt myself over your bumper.

You being alongside me was not a surprise. I knew we had overlap and I was using it to squeeze you to the track edge. Then I prematurely tried to move over directly in front of you. Maybe I’d briefly won 2" of clearance between your bumper and mine, but the battle was still totally on. What did I expect you to do? I had squeezed you to the very track edge, which is quite unfriendly, and I should expect you’d quit fighting for position? I expected that you’d suddenly recognize that I was darting over and you were supposed to see this in time to back out of the overlap you’d just won and give me space?

If you’re not clear, don’t move over. If the battle is such that you being clear is changing second by second, use some caution.