Welcome to the Bismark Endurance Racing Season.
This will be the 7th series in the long standing Bismark season and the 1st on Forza 3.When Forza 2 first hit the streets I put together my very first tournament which happened to be a C class tourney and from then on I had a fantastic following throughout the next 5 seasons.
I have been requested by many loyal fans of the series to put together another tournament that caters to fans of endurance racing.
This is how it works.
The season will start with its first race in a series of ten on January 9th 2010.
The season will be run over 10 weeks racing on Saturdays at 10pm EST, 9pm CST.I have folks who have run in prior seasons from Europe and Australia so if you are from those regions and are interested in joining in the fun then you will need to check your time zones.
Considering that my first Forza 2 Bismark tourney was a C class I have decided to celebrate this by making season 1 in Forza 3 as a C class endurance tournament.
Laps will vary from track to track but a race will typically be anything from 25 laps up to 50 and even 75 laps,this brings pit stops into play as you will need to put gas in the car,change tires etc.
The racing is run under full simulation conditions,damage on,etc so you need to take care of your car,if you hit someone or wreck and your car is damaged,your race and another drivers race will be over to all intents and purposes,you have to be able to show discipline when racing.
Cars for this tournament can be any car in any class lower than a C class car.You will be able to build and tune your car as you see fit.Of course you can use a C class car providing you do not go past the maximum PI allowed for C class,during your upgrades.
Drive train swaps will not be allowed.
Pit stops are optional.
There are no restrictions as far as driving aids go,you can use ABS,TCS,racing and breaking lines,that will be your choice.
The one restriction I place on drivers is you can only use the same car once.So for example if you decide week 1 you want to bring out the Golf GTI, then once you use that car you have to use another car the following race.It works out great and keeps everything fresh,just ask those guys who have raced in my previous tournaments,they loved this concept.
My tournaments are not complicated,they really are simple and that has been key in bringing folks on board,you don't have to worry if you can use a certain size or compound of tire,you can build your car to your liking as long as its build is within C class regulations.
You can tune your car as you see fit,you can paint your car,give it a race number,add decals and whatever else floats your boat.
The only thing I wont have is paint or wording on your car that may offend other people in this series.
My past series have been supported many times by Turn 10 themselves in the form of handing out Unicorn cars to winners,this may not be the case here as I have not heard of Unicorn cars within Forza 3.
Depending on the number of entrants that want to sign up for this, drivers will be placed in a racing division.In the past I have had 3 divisions of 8 drivers.
You will be placed in a division based on your driving skill,I might add that I have had many a fast driver in my tournaments and they are normally started off in division 1,these are the drivers I know from old,those who have not raced in my tournaments before will have to try out on a couple of chosen tracks.
The idea behind this will be to attain your skill level,if your time is very close to or better than some of the fast guys I have,then you may start off in division 1,the whole point of this is to make sure that all the drivers race against other drivers of similar skill.So if your times at try outs are somewhat slower then you may start off in a lower division.
Once in a division you will race the first two weeks of the season in that division,after two weeks of racing the top two drivers will move up a division from say division 2 to division 1.If you finish in the bottom two drivers after the first two weeks you will move down a division,this will continue through the first eight weeks,by then everyone will be in the division that matches their skill set.The final two weeks which will be week 9 and 10 you will race in the division you ended up in after week 8.
This promotion works like a charm,it keeps everyone competitive with each other and no one is getting blown away by the fast guys.It also adds to the excitement because your always trying to get the most points you can from a race and its the number of race points after each race that will decide were you place in your respective division,so with that in mind you always have a goal to try and reach.You may be mid table in your league after two weeks but the following two weeks you do really well and secure enough points to finish in the top two after week 4 and find yourself being promoted,now you will race your next two weeks at least against faster drivers,of course if you do badly you can be relegated to a lower division.
It really does work out well with this format and I`m sure that any past Bismark drivers reading this will vouch for that.
There will be 10pts for the win 8pts for second all the way down to 2pts for 8th place.
There will be no restarts if you wreck or run into some other driver,so this is were you have to race with discipline,you will not win the race at the first turn but you can loose it.
The only time a restart will take place is if a driver loses his connection through no fault of his own,and then this will only happen before the completion of 5 laps.This will be reduced to 2 laps at both LeMans and Nurburgring.
The host will call everyone back to the lobby and a restart will take place.If the same person lags out again he will remain out of the race for that week and will be awarded 2 pts,should a different driver lag out and it happens to be his first lag out then again a restart will take place,please make sure you have a good connection to your ISP.
Once I have a number of folks signed up for this I will announce the dates for the tryouts,past Bismark drivers will not need to tryout as I already know their skills.Everyone that does try out will use the same car on the same tracks under the same conditions.I have a very capable tuned ready to go C class Civic Type R that everyone who will tryout will use to attain their best tryout times.These cars will be gifted to you for free.
So once I have enough folks signed up for this I will announce the tracks and the number of laps per track.
Don't miss out on this,my tournaments have stood the test of time and are not one off jobs,only sign up if you know you can commit to the season,I don't want folks who sign up and then give up after the first week or two.I put a lot of time and effort in bringing this the the Forza community,so you can understand how I feel when someone just drops out for next no reason.
Again this is Endurance racing at its best, if this sounds like something you would like to be a part of, then I will be happy to have you on board.
Thanks for reading
Tony AKA RaisetheBismark