ILMS Protest and Race Review Procedure

[Tom Cinnamon]

Driver Protests and On Track Incident Complaints

While we do not expect there to be any significant number of on track problems in our races; due to the structure of the Champion ILMS Series being invitational in nature, there will undoubtedly be occasions where two or more drivers will be involved in an accident on the track. In many cases there will be disagreement amongst the drivers involved as to the cause and who was responsible for initiating the incident. This is purely the nature of human response, and is a part of motorsports whether it be real or virtual simulation.

In the event of such a situation, the following rules will be in place regarding any driver protests and/or possible series administration involvement into investigating the issue.

A). All Drivers must apply a 24 hour cool off period after the incident/race before proceeding with any action. When accidents happen emotions are typically running high. Please refrain during the time immediately following the incident from "blowing up" on the forums, or making an accusational post, or chat message regarding what happened. Drivers should refrain from posting any chat messages regarding incidents during the race. The other competitors may be distracted by the chat, and frankly are not interested in a disagreement amongst two or more other drivers who may be carrying on a dispute. Also, please do not go straight to the forums and make a negative post regarding what happened. Series officials will reserve the right to delete or moderate posts of this nature and sanctions may be imposed on drivers who make such posts.

B) IF after the 24 hour cool off period you are still upset about the issue, the next step in most cases, is to calmly contact the other drivers who were involved in the accident with you. Be sure to review the server replay from the other driver(s) POV as much as you have reviewed from your own. There are always 2 sides and perspectives to every story, and while you may think the other driver did something in a certain way, they may have seen it differently. This can be for a variety of reasons; including internet lag, warp, computer issues, etc. Also everyone needs to realize at all times, this is a game, we do it for fun, and people make mistakes. There will be times when someone makes a mistake that has a negative impact on someone elses race. This is unfortunate, but we all need to understand it's a part of motorsports and do our best to move on. If you feel that you cannot contact other drivers in a calm and polite manner without inflaming the situation then we would encourage you to contact the Chief Steward.

C) If after cooling off for 24 hours and contacting the other parties involved, you are still unable to resolve the issue, a protest (in private) within 48 hours may be submitted to Race Director. To do this please send a private message on the forums, or email him. You should be prepared to clearly state your perspective of what happened, what lap and where, with evidence to what you saw. The Race Director will review the situation and advise you as to the validity of any protest. If after consulting with the Race Director you wish to proceed with a protest, he will then take your case to the series Admin Team. This process of review by Admins may take some time to complete and any decision made will be binding and may not be appealed. All protest rulings will be communicated to the parties involved and all participants of the Series.

There are things that can be done to ease the tension surrounding an on track incident. Should you feel that you were at fault for an on track incident that allowed you to make a pass for position, then you should give that position back. You didn't deserve the position any way and the driver you passed will think that at the very least you are a fair competitor. Hitting someone and just taking off is a major factor in causing someone to protest. Apologies in our forums are important too.

Treat the other drivers with respect. Do whatever it costs to avoid contact and protests will not be necessary.

Series admins reserve the right to review any ontrack activity with or without protests being filed and may issue penalties as they see fit.