Jack Sears Pre-Season Trophy:
It's time to give an incentive to help me in pre-season testing. Group racing is extremely important to ensuring the cars are right and ready for the new season, but over time we've struggled to pull in the numbers.
So, I've decided to introduce a pre-season mini series. There will be a place on the Hall of Fame for the winner.
Here's how it will work.
Round 1/2/3 - 1st May - Tokyo, Indy Road Course, Apricot Hill
Round 4/5/6 - 8th May - Grand Valley, Willow Springs, Brands Hatch Indy
Round 7/8 - 15th May - Silverstone International, Nurburgring GP/D
Round 9/10 - 22nd May - Nurburgring Nordschleife, La Sarthe 2013 (both double points races)
Rounds 9 and 10 are just for a bit of fun really. But also useful in that both tracks are useful in finding out the decent handlers from the straight line cars. Both races will help build the Season 8 calendar (although neither will feature on it).
Tracks may be changed before BTCC-8 if they don't work.
You must run all 10 cars. One for every race. You must tell me which cars you are going to use for each race in advance. Choose wisely! If there's too many of one car in a race I will ask some drivers to change. I will keep a record of who's run what.
Specs may be changed in between weeks depending on the way the testing goes. Cars may be removed from the BTCC-8 list but will be kept on in this pre-season series to ensure continuity.
Standard in-season rules apply. Pit windows, penalty system, points system (with exceptions), the lot. Grids will be decided at random, no qualifyings (with reverse grids for subsequent races). 10-minutes pre-race practice. It is just testing after all, but I do expect a decent level of driving standards/effort, otherwise the whole thing is of no help.
No drop scores, and no extra points for lead laps/fastest laps either, just pure racing position.
Only the first 16 drivers to enter the lounge will race - no pre-qualifying for this pre-season series.
Just drivers. Let's not fuss over teams and whatever for this. That's for the main season.
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This means BTCC-8 will kick off 29th May, if all goes well.