Tom Henks Racing Series [Season 6 Finale results]

Hey everyone, I’ve been pretty much on hiatus recently but now I will return to making community challenges for everyone. In the interest of consistency and of having one big thread for all my future competitions rather than a separate thread for each one, I decided to make this a racing series.

The Tom Henks Racing Series (THRS) - what is it?

This is a racing series where performance and drivability in BeamNG are king. The basic concept is similar to what I’ve done in previous challenges (you build the cars in Automation and then I race them in BeamNG against the clock) but there are some key differences that will be consistent across all seasons in the THRS. While we are still in preparation of the first season, these are still subject to change to some extent.

1. Terminology and overall concept:

Each individual competition in the THRS shall be called a season, aka the first competition in the THRS will be season 1. In each season, there will be 3 rounds and each round will consist of 2-3 races. This means that there will be 6-9 races in each season. The tracks in earlier rounds of a season will be easier and shorter than in later rounds, and after each round the bottom X cars will be eliminated. How many cars that is will depend on how many entries we have. In case there is no clear winner after round 3, there will be one last race featuring only the top cars to determine the winner.

2. Scoring:

After every race, scores are given based on finishing position, and obviously car with the fastest time is going to get top score. The maximum points and how many cars get points will again depend on how many entries there are, but as a general rule of thumb 75% of competitors (rounded to the nearest whole number) will receive points. The base formula will be: 1st place gets N points, 2nd place N-2, 3rd place N-4, etc. but it will always be set up so that the cars at the bottom get 0 points. In the extremely unlikely event that two cars get the exact same time (thus causing a tie) the points will be split. For example, if 1st place is 20 points, then 2nd would get 18, 3rd would get 16 etc. In that race, if two cars tie for 2nd place, they each get 17 points.

3. Technical regulations:

Each season will have different rules and technical regulations, but there will always be a minimum weight, aka. the car must weigh at least so-and-so-many kg. Some seasons will also mandate the use of a certain gearbox, a maximum displacement, or specific tyre compunds and/or dimensions (rather than a maximum allowable size). The idea is that by leveling the playing field in terms of some (or most) of the key components that make a car fast, the real difference in performance will come down to tuning, not only the tuning of the engine but also the suspension, the gearing, the brake balance etc. Cars with hidden aerodynamic parts (i.e. wings that are either placed inside the car or made with transparent material/“paint”) will always be banned.

4. Submissions:

Only cars submitted via my discord will be accepted. To submit, drag and drop your car file (Automation car files only) into the “community-challenge-files” subchannel. You can name your car and engine however you like, there are no naming conventions. Only 1 submission per player is allowed, no resubmissions. So please make sure your car meets all the rules before submitting the car. The deadlines will be generous enough to allow for thorough testing as well as double-checking the rules are met, and there will be no need to rush your entry. Collaborative efforts are allowed, but as stated before only 1 car per player is allowed, so if you submit a car that you built together with a friend then you (or your friend) can’t submit another car in addition to that.

5. The Races:

The races will be streamed live on Twitch (dates and times will be announced when the season starts). But for everyone who can’t make it to the live stream I will also be uploading a cut version of the VOD to Youtube and Rumble a day or two after the race.

Stay tuned for the announcement of season 1, which (if things go according to plan) should happen next weekend.

14 Likes

I’ve been waiting for a revival of your popular Beam racing series ever since 4.27 was introduced - and your new format sounds just about right for this.

Definitely IN. One thing we need to probably work out is what your settings will be in Beam, because changes there affect the car’s performance envelope and handling at the limit and beyond.

For instance, what selections you have in the menus related to steering control, and your gains or filters, etc.

And, what you’re driving with (gamepad, wheel, full sim rig, etc.) This affects everything, I’ve found. That new auto-oversteer correction function changes everything again too.

Toms back!!

I’m in ! sounds like a blast

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It is!!

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Season 1 is officially open! The theme for this season is Junior Rally Cars.

The goal in this season is to build the kind of car that an aspiring rally driver would learn the basics of rally driving on. As such, the car will be quick enough to feel engaging to a young aspiring rally driver but not so fast that it would actually put them in real danger.

Like with WRC, DTM or many other racing series, many of the base figures in this challenge will be capped, like max. displacement, max. power output and minimum weight. In the interest of fairness, we have also teamed up with a supplier for wheels and tyres, and they are providing tyres and wheels of a set dimension for all the cars. Aka, every car will be using the same tyres and wheels.

RULES:

Year (for everything): 2020
Body year: last 15 years (2005 or newer)
Minimum wheelbase: 2.50m
Body type: anything that’s front-engined and allows for 2 rows of seats
Body and chassis materials: any type of steel and/or aluminium (incl. partial aluminium panels)
chassis type: monocoque or space frame

Engine:

Type: I3 or I4
Displacement: up to 1200cc
Materials: No magnesium block, no titanium conrods
Engine head: DOHC 4v (VVL allowed) or DOHC 5v
Must be turbocharged
Must have an intercooler
no variable geometry turbo (twin-scroll allowed)
max. turbo boost: 1.0 bar
Fuel: Premium (95RON)
max. RPM: 8500
No race intake/exhaust
Must have a 3-way (or high-flow 3-way) cat and at least 1 muffler
max. power output: 180.0hp

Trim:

Drivetrain: Front-engine (transverse or longitudinal) AWD
Gearbox: 6-speed manual
Differential: Viscous or Geared LSD
Tyres/wheels: 225/55R16 All-terrain tyres with Alloy wheels (tyre diameter: 650mm), 0 quality
Brakes: no carbon ceramic
Undertray: None, Offroad, Semi Clad or Fully Clad
Cooling Airflow: 50+
Interior: 2 full front seats, must have infotainment (basic or higher, can’t be “none”)
Driver aids: must have power steering (any type) and ABS. Additional driver aids allowed but not mandatory
Safety: Advanced 20s
No active or hydropneumatic springs
Trim reliability: at least 70
Minimum weight: 1200kg
Approximate cost: up to 35.000$

Quality Sliders:
no negative quality allowed
tyre/wheel quality must be 0

Downforce fixtures:
Front: 1 lip allowed
Rear: 1 lip (diffusor) + 1 wing allowed
Sides/hood/chassis/underbody/anywhere else: no aero fixtures allowed

Using the Advanced Trim Settings (to change engine position, wheel size or other) is not allowed. If we find that a car is using them anyway, we will reset them to default values.

Making an interior is not required.


There will be 3 rounds with each of them consisting of 1 on-road, 1 off-road and 1 mixed course. This means there will be a total of 9 races (or 10 if we don’t have a clear winner after 9 races). These are the tracks in order:

Track 1: East Coast - Street Stage
Track 2: Austrian Drag Strip - Dirt Oval (x) - 3 laps, fastest lap counts
Track 3: RSWats’ Rallycross - Rallycross (x) - 3 laps, fastest lap counts
Track 4: Automation - Hillclimb 2
Track 5: Jungle Rock Island - Hillclimb
Track 6: Industrial Site - Perimeter Mixed Circuit - 2 laps, fastest lap counts
Track 7: Utah - Old Mill Loop - 1 lap, standing start
Track 8: Italy - Asphalt Hillclimb 1
Track 9: West Coast - Cell Tower Delivery
(Track 10: Small Islands - Mixed Stage 3)

(x) found in the mod repository in BeamNG

Deadline: Saturday, July 30th at 12:00pm (noon) CEST
Race 1: July 30th, 6pm CEST
Race 2: August 6th, 6pm CEST
Race 3: August 13th, 6pm CEST

Date and time for the following races will be announced in the future but it will probably continue to be every Saturday. The VODs will be uploaded to Youtube and Rumble the day after the twitch livestream. All links are in the OP.

9 Likes

Nice to see you back again tom! I’ll try to enter at some point.

Premium unleaded is 95 RON; super unleaded is 98 RON.

The safety requirement here is meant to replicate FIA-mandated safety equipment. Also, the use of adaptive or semi-active dampers should be prohibited along with any type of sway bar other than passive items.

I think this is to simulate in-car radio for use during stages.

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There is currently a bug (?) that you get more power (and less weight) in a t/c engine by setting the intercooler to 0. So the rules should perhaps mandate an intercooler to avoid that until this is fixed?

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thank you for pointing this out, I wasn’t aware of it. Even though I don’t think it would make a massive difference, I still want a level playing field and some players may not have known about this bug (just like me) thus putting them at a disadvantage even if it would have been a small disadvantage.

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So I have been asked about allowed engine position, I thought it was clear that the cars should be front-engined because of what the rules said about the allowed body types. However, it was pointed out that some bodies do fit 2 rows of seats and can be either front- or mid/rear engined. Since we are not building exotics here but rather something that can be described as a an affordable eco car that got modified for rallying, I’m making it clear now that only front-engine layouts are allowed. The engine can be mounted transversely or longitudinally but it has to be in the front. OP has been updated.

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I’ll kick off the car screenshots with my entry (also on discord so apologies for the doubling up), the Seishin Boken. 1200.1kg and 180.0 hp it’s as close to the rules as I can make it! Hopefully will be decent.


4 Likes

No flat 4’s? Rally?

I thought that with a capacity limit of only 1200cc, Boxers don’t really make sense. But don’t worry, Boxers will be allowed in plenty of future challenges.


On a side note, I would like to clarify to everyone that using the Advanced Trim Settings menu is not allowed to alter your cars. It would allow for modifications that improve the car in BeamNG without affecting the stats (like weight or cost) in Automation. Rules updated

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Inline fours are allowed, though, and small flat fours have precedent, albeit from old VWs

The challenge takes place in 2020 and for the last 20 years, small Inline 4s have been massively more common in cars than small Boxer 4s.

Although given the low displacement limit for this series of races, I would prefer using an inline-3 over an inline-4 on cost grounds if I were to enter.

Both I3’s and I4’s are allowed.

Tyres should be between 225 and 255 or it means the fronts are 225 and rears 255?