Rules Clairification

[d3efan]

Can we cut into the grass (4 wheels in the grass) entering and exiting the inner loop? I'm pretty sure we hammered out a yes to that last race. Wanted to get an answer to this early so there are no surprises on race day. T3anks

[Skoty Speed]

In the past we allowed drivers to use the grass to the right entering the inner loop, but not exiting, as that could easily cause you to lose control. I assume thats what we will allow this time as well.

Skoty

[Rookiesrock]

One official says yes and the other says no. There are less admins around here and its tougher to make a decision in unison? Lepage if your the "bottom line" then why didn't you answer this post? Or disagree with your fellow admin. You say it's not in the rules. From what I read above it's one of those filler rules. Because it was allowed in years past, some drivers built their cars around it. And had to make changes with very little time to correct it. My fault and my finishes show because of it. I thought this was decided years ago. I'm very disappointed. With that said I will be prepard tonight for CTS.

[lepage71]

Skoty never said that he knew for certain...the 'sanctioned cutting' was a race-day allowance in the past, NEVER a rule. We allowed that last season to promote safer driving in a place where many drivers seemed to crash. But it became clear that it was being abused to straight-line the entire chicane. The effect of the most recent rule book update was to cover just about every conceivable situation (hey, we even put a screenshot of the IndyRC pit road entrance). If we intended to allow it this season, it would have appeared in the rule book. I was not aware that so many drivers remembered that from last season.

Ultimately, some confusion occurred because I was in and out for a few days, TommyW was still marooned somewhere without Internet, I never spoke with Skoty after Monday or Tuesday, thus he could not point this out, I didn't see this message until today, etc.

However, before the last road course event at Sears Point, the road course section in the rules was revised (and slightly modified again before the playoffs). Before/at the Sears events, I mentioned that all cutting provisions (in or not in the rules) would be eliminated. As for the new drivers that were not around during the Sears Point event, the point is moot because these members would have never known about the sanctioned cutting in the past anyways.

Sorry for the confusion. However, I did find it enjoyable to navigate the chicane properly.

[HBMan23]

Well the confusion of some lead to them explaining the past races and that "smoking the grass" in the first turn of the bus stop was indeed acceptable. However, Having 2 completely different explainations from admins was a bit unsettling. With 10 minutes before race time, we were told that cutting was allowed only for passing and that could be very frustrating for some. I, however, was gonna try to run the race 100% on the track anyway. But, in practice, I could not gauge my performance because everyone was cutting. "Smoking the grass" is asking for trouble anyway. And, you know, its funny how the times came down when lepage came in the room last night. I thought I was way off on times but it was only that I was running the track on the asphalt. Preparing for the worst is always best. See you guys at my HOMETRACK, Darlington! Prepare for the HBMan23 Driving School! (No passing please!) :lol: LOL

P.S. The references of "Smoking the grass" above were not meant to be taken as references to reef, but only as a good desription of what was going on during practice.

[Etab]

I cut the entrance on some laps after reading Skoty's post and seeing Lepage "cut" the entrance of the chicane after he had cleared me a while before.

Regardless I did not gain any time, and unless I gained about 60 seconds doing so, which is very unlikely.

If I get penalized for cutting the entrance to the chicane after seeing other drivers doing so, I apologize to Reef, who I subbed for Saturday.

Aside from the point... when I sub for someone, I want them to rest assured that I will not get any penalties whatsoever and that they will receive a solid finish (not a miracle). It was tough to do after being taken out on the first lap and taking an extra stop.

If I get any penalties it's most likely my fault for not asking for clarification before the race. I guess in the future I'd rather be safe than sorry.

[lepage71]

Etab, in the prerace we made it clear that drivers were allowed to go on that area when there were 2-wide situations, slow cars, etc in order to avoid a mess.

And there were not 2 different explanations from the admins. Skoty was in a awkward position because we had not been able to discuss that together but he also wanted to give d3efan an answer. If you read any of what I posted, that explains everything that you are confused about.