Senior Sportsmanship League

Senior Sportsmanship League

Friendly, Good Natured, and Sociable

A league for mature and particularly friendly drivers who share and appreciate a “culture” where: 1) Drivers share and value a form of intense competition where passing is seen as “skillful overtaking with superior speed” i.e. a demonstration of skill rather than a battle “attacking to gain a position” on the track; 2) Where collisions are seen as unnecessary and mostly avoidable. Where reasonable risk avoidance is valued more than apologies for causing collisions; 3) Where earned positions from qualifying are respected and dive bombing is seen as a form of attempted theft; and 4) Where all participants have fun and remain friends with their competitors.

Always remember our goal: BE COMPETITIVE, DO YOUR BEST,  HAVE FUN, EARN YOUR POSITION WITHOUT HURTING THE COMPETITOR,  DON'T BE ANNOYING-EARN YOUR COMPETITORS' RESPECT WITH SKILL,  BE FRIENDLY,  IT IS A RACE- NOT A FIGHT.

We run the FIA F4 on Monday with a strict FIXED setup designed by our Chief Engineer. (no cockpit adjustment of brake bias) We run the Ray FF1600 with a FIXED setup but brake bias adjustment is allowed. 

The League is open to all drivers 55 years old and older with iRating less than 3000 and a safety rating above 3.0 or a Class B License.  We have a Division for drivers who are 70PLUS and 80PLUS drivers are given extra championship points. (Drivers who apply for membership to race in the SENIOR 55PLUS Division with an iRating above 3000 must  be reviewed by the league’s Membership Committee) 

Select races will be broadcast on YouTube depending on voluntary contributions by members.

Donald Wayne Strout, Organizer

In 2016, I formed the 60PLUS Racing Adventures League. We started out with 20-25 "senior" gentlemen over the age of 60 who looked forward to fun and fair racing in winged formula cars in iRacing. We had very strict "racing rules" that were enforced by me as Chief Steward after viewing the replays of every race. Racing was to be a contest but not a fight.

The league grew and newcomers wanted to see more aggressive driving. "We want to attack in the corners and race hard, fighting side by side" they said. As this was against the whole original philosophy and “culture” of the league, I turned the 60PLUS league management over to others and left it alone for years to pursue my aviation interests. (In my enthusiasm for "building the league" I had accepted members who did not share the original values.) I also created two other leagues promoting fair competition and worked on developing setups for the Formula Renault 2.0.

In 2022, I suffered a serious crash in my experimental ultralight aircraft, crushing both femurs and my shin bone as well as a couple broken vertebrae. After installation of about 3 pounds of titanium in both legs, recovering a bit with tons of PT, but still walking with a cane, I decided to try iRacing again.

The 60PLUS league has grown substantially so when I returned, the level of competition and skill was very high—and the culture was still very much “attack in the corners and race hard, fighting side by side”.  Many loss of control spins and unnecessary collisions. In my first race after returning, I was blocked and dive bombed. I also noticed that most race podiums were dominated by drivers with very high iRatings. For me and several others I questioned, it was not fun. 

All comments regarding suggested improvements to management and participants were met with “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” replies.

I also tried out the excellent IGPFun League organized by my old friend Luca Varani. They actually work hard to avoid chaos and are one of the oldest leagues in iRacing. I found the field to be huge and a bit intimidating with really serious and highly accomplished younger drivers. 

So after a bit of “focus group” research, I figured there was a demand for a different approach in a new league.

There is a reasonably sized group of experienced iRacing enthusiasts over the age of 70. However, to maintain a robust and active league with a sufficient roster, we are extending membership to younger senior drivers that share our culture and values, 

The above graph was the inspiration for forming the 60PLUS Racing Adventures League. To address the dramatic difference in reaction time between those over 60 and those under 60. It also shows that the difference between 60 and 70 is just as large as that between 60 and 30!

Clearly, there is a justification for allowing 70 year olds to race against their "equals" and not feel intimidated and dominated by younger drivers with more youthful abilities and drivers with near pro level performance. One of the attractions of iRacing is realism, and as in real life “club” racing, most participants would like to finish their race without significant collision damage—one of the goals of the Senior Sportmanship League.

The new league will run with the same "Racing Rules" we originally used in the 60PLUS League. "Do no harm to others-treat others as you expect them to treat you” kind of means that racing here will be display of skill, not a fight. Finish in the least amount of time, in front of as many cars as possible, with little or no interfering in the driving enjoyment of others. (This means passing and side by side racing is encouraged—just leave adequate racing room, don’t play head games, no surprise or ridiculous moves, and don’t collide or lose control. Be prepared that the car ahead may brake earlier than you expect. Remember that drivers have much less ability to see cars beside them in sim racing compared to IRL. Out-braking to gain position in corner entry is allowed and can be fun as long as the driver being overtaken knows you are along side before he reaches the turn in point.) These rules are described in our official Sporting Code.

In addition, instead of following the iRacing schedule, each season we will run on four different world class tracks, alternating three times.  The idea will be to spend more time improving our skills and less time learning new tracks. 

Another "difference" is our attempt to make racing more fair with more opportunity for each member to achieve a high championship points standing.  First, we will actively engage in driver development with coaching and telemetry analysis.  (Participation in Garage 61 is mandatory.) Second, we will exclude the overall winner in the first race from running in the second race of the day or if he chooses to do so, we average his points from both races. 

An additional innovation is the league will use one highly engineered and tested setup suitable for all ranges of driver skill with the F4 annd FF1600 and other methods to give all drivers a fair chance to win. The setup has increased grip, and in combination with the fixed weather conditions we choose, the car is easier to drive fast and safely.

We assign each driver to one of six classes: Senior, Admiral, Master; Expert; Advanced; and Rookie. (A special class designated as the Admiral class for drivers with iRatings above 3000 or who have won 7 races in the Master class. These drivers do not compete in the 70PLUS Division.)  Although we will compete against the AI drivers--finishing positions and championship points are for humans only. 

Generally, the delta between Master and Expert is 0.9%; between Master and Advanced is 1.5%

We will be one of the first leagues to introduce AI into the competition. Generally we will introduce between 2-8 AI drivers. We often run without any AI drivers.

League racing in our opinion is not like Pro Racing any more than Country Club Tournament Golf is like the PGA Tour. We are not Vintage Car racing either. We expect each participant to drive to the best of their ability. No Country Club would be able to run an amateur golf tournament without a handicap system or some system of dividing the competitors for points assignment. What is the point of a contest if everyone knows who will win? So, we are trying to implement a similar concept in iRacing. We don’t support the idea of everybody deserves a trophy for participating but we also believe that everyone deserves at least a reasonable chance of recognition for exemplary performance.  Not everyone will enjoy the taste of victory, but everyone deserves a “fair” chance. And, winning is not necessarily the best way to enhance self esteem—using healthy competition to motivate you to improve and reach your full potential is the best way.

Requirements for Membership: iRating between 500 and 3000. (In the Senior 55PLUS Division, drivers with iRating in the 3000-5000 will be considered by our Membership Committee.) Safety Rating above 3.0 or a B License. For participation in the 70PLUS F4 Championship: Born before 1957.  For other events:  Satisfactory interview with Chief Stewart regarding racing philosophy and adherence to League’s Sporting Code. (We are more interested in drivers who share our values than in a particular age, however drivers older than 55 and retired will most likely feel comfortable in our “Senior” community.) New membership is also subject to approval of all existing league members.

FF1600

IRacing FIA F4

Indy Car IR18

McLaren GT4

Porsche Cayman GT4

Corvette Z06 GT3

Why do we exclude drivers with iRating above 3000 in the 70PLUS Division? The chart below shows that 90% of drivers have an iRating between 500 and 3000. The 5% with iRating above 3000 should be driving against drivers that are competitive with themselves on their level—not coming into a league to dominate the podium. Equating iRating with ability and performance can be misleading—many drivers perform at a level higher than expected—but careful observation confirms that drivers with iRating above 3000 tend to dominate the podium when competing against the vast majority (75%) of drivers with iRating in the 800-2500 range. 

Coaching Partner:   Full Speed Sim Coaching

https://fullspeedsimcoaching.com/

Chief Engineer’s Library:  WS Speed Analytics

https://wsspeedanalytics.blogspot.com/