BRC: Global GT Series
The BRC Global GT Series will bring the most prestigious sports and supercars of the early 90s to six iconic race tracks in the (Automation) world. Cars will compete in two classes, GT1 and GT2, for the race victories and the titles. Races will go over 200 km, searching for the best package of speed, efficiency and consistency.
Again, we will be using the BRC race simulation with live broadcasts of the races including commentary and later YouTube uploads for those who missed the live stream.
Historical Background
The BRC Global GT challenge is loosely based on the BPR Global GT Series, which was the predecessor of the FIA GT championship. The BPR Global GT Series was a grand tourer-based sports car racing series which ran from 1994 to 1996 before becoming the FIA GT Championship in 1997. The series was founded by Jürgen Barth, Patrick Peter, and Stéphane Ratel (their last names forming the BPR name) as an international endurance racing series to replace the World Sportscar Championship which had ended in 1992. The championship started with privateer gentlemen racing their own modified sports and supercars, but quickly gained interest from manufacturers, leading to the development of purpose-built, street legal race cars such as the Porsche 911 GT1.
The Cars
We will be racing in two classes, GT1 and GT2. GT1 cars will be a quite exclusive and more complex (supercars), while GT2 cars are more derived from typical medium- to high-end sports cars.
Inspiration
Banned bodies
These car bodies are banned from the competition. Reasons can be wonky/overpowered aerodynamics or just being not in the spirit of the challenge. I did not ban every truck/people mover/… body, as those should be a bad enough choice anyway.
The list may be extended, as new issues may be discovered and new mods may appear on the workshop. If you find something suspicious, ask first before you invest a lot of time into your car build.
Soft suspension exploit
Currently it is still possible to gain lap time by using an unrealistically soft suspension, as this issue has not yet been fixed by the devs. No big deal - if everybody knows about it, everybody is on the same page. I cannot do anything against it with reasonable measures, so I just sit and wait for it to be fixed.
Just try to soften your springs and dampers and see if it does something good for you.
The Drivers
For the first time in BRC history, you will be able to modify your driver skills. You have a given number of skill points you can invest in improving 6 different skills. The more you spend on a single skill, the more expensive it gets.
Try to use all of your skill points. It is not required to use all of them though. Just make sure it does not say that you have a negative number of points left - in that case, you are disqualified.
The Tracks
Races will be held on six tracks in the automation universe. In addition to the well-known Automation Test Track, I have created another track for each country of the map. Link to track pack: Automation World Track Pack
Race Calendar
- Automation Test Track (45 laps)
- Al Rilma Beach (41 laps)
- Narnilla (43 laps)
- Autodromo Yanagrad Road Course (51 laps)
- Teberbergring (34 laps)
- Ellisbury Road Course (46 laps)
Race Format
- distance 200 km
- standing start (unlike the real BPR)
- pit stops allowed
- pit speed limit: 80 kph
- tyre change time: 40s +/- 5s
- refuel speed: 2 kg/s
- refuelling and tire change simultaneously
- safety cars possible
- weight penalties for the top 10 cars leading the championship (up to 100 kg).
Weather forecasts are included in the strategy submission spreadsheet.
Note: The forecasts are updated once the challenge opens. Not final yet, just placeholders!
The reward
Fame and honours!
Entering the Challenge
Basic rules
- one single entry per player (either GT1 or GT2, not both) - first submission counts, more PMs will be ignored
- same for the pre-season tests: only submit a single car.
- obvious meme cars will be disqualified (stretch-limos, trucks, …)
- collaborations are allowed - each player may enter a car (including different liveries and different car tunes) - just one player name per car - cars of collaborators will still race each other (and crash into each other)
- no multi-accounting
- no cheating
Technical regulations
>> Rules Spreadsheet <<
There is a self-scrutineering sheet on the second tab of the spreadsheet. After copying the spreadsheet for your own use, please use this to check yourself if your car is legal.
Submission process
-
Claim your car number (matching your number you put into the team registration) here:
>> Numbers Spreadsheet << -
Check your car against the rules in the self-scrutineering sheet:
>> Self-Scrutineering Sheet <<
Copy this spreadsheet for your own use if you don’t want others to see your car stats.
As you have all the tools needed to check your car yourself, I will disqualify any car not meeting the rules without notice or second chance.
Be aware of the 107% rule - cars more than 7% slower than the fastest car on the Automation Test Track (in-game standard track, standing start) will not be considered in the challenge. -
The following step may be done twice (once for pre-season testing and once before the final car deadline (for changes after the pre-season test):
- Register your race team here:
>> Team Registration << - Add your race car file to a PM to Der_Bayer and paste the team registration info into the PM. Before the .car file export, check if your car meets this naming convention:
- Car model naming convention: your user name here
- Car trim naming convention: your car name here
Note: Please don’t add any “BRC” or whatever tag to the car model name.
- Register your race team here:
-
After the practice results have been published, enter your race strategies here (one for each race):
>> Strategy Submission Sheet <<
Send your race strategies according to the instructions in the spreadsheet
Deadlines
Pre-season test (optional): Tuesday, 5th of January, 6 a.m. CET; Car export + Team Registration required.
Final race car: Saturday, 16th of January, 7 a.m. CET; Car export + Team Registration required.
Race strategies (not yet accepted): deadline not before Saturday, 23rd of January, 7 a.m. CET
Practice results will be provided for all races in advance of the season. Use them before submitting the strategies.
Strategies may be changed during the course of the season - I still would like to have base strategies in advance, in order to get through the season quickly without having to wait for strategy submissions.
Changelog
- Replaced TrackSportiness in car difficulty calculation (which affects the chance of driver errors) with a plain value of 50. So car difficulty is now 50/TrackTameness. TrackSportiness is still a part of the base lap time calculation by the Automation and the BRC (to be changed in a patch anytime in the future - most likely not for this BRC).
Other Notes
- Wet weather racing: We are using the full tire selection to accound for weather this time: Slicks, Intermediates, Wets. No change has been made to how the system works compared to previous BRCs.
- Strategy mode: We are using the strategy mode “Sprint” for this challenge, which allows for more customization than the simple one used in the 24h race. It is the same as the mode used 4 years ago in the BRC 1976 season (and in earlier BRCs).
Feedback and questions welcome! Let me know what information is unclear/missing. I’ll open the challenge as soon as I feel confident about the rules.
