CMS League Rules & Regulations

Updated April 21, 2023

Introduction

These rules apply to all CMS chapters. In addition, each chapter may have supplemental rules and regulations. All members are required to know and abide by these rules before starting to race on CMS servers. Chapter or Special Event administrators (admins) shall use these CMS General Competition Rules and Regulations in putting together special events, championships, or points systems.

General Rules & Driver Conduct

  1. Drivers must use their full name in the race sims, the CMS forums, and CMS Discord channels to participate in competition. Nicknames may be included within brackets for the forums and on Discord, if the driver wishes.
  2. Wi-Fi connection is not allowed due to high ping and lag. The maximum allowed ping is 200 to join and race on a CMS server. Drivers with higher ping may be asked to leave the server by the series admin or race director.
  3. All drivers are expected to be ready to run at the designated time for qualifying > warmup > race.
  4. It is solely the race admin’s decision as to whether a session should be delayed or restarted for driver(s) to join/rejoin the server.
  5. All drivers should access and run on the event server prior to the event to ensure they are ready to compete.
  6. The ‘calling out’ of other drivers/teams and/or using inflammatory language in forums or during race communication is subject to penalties, probation or bans.
  7. Assisting another competitor who has run out of fuel or experienced a mechanical breakdown etc. by pushing their vehicle is not allowed. Bump drafting is also prohibited unless specifically permitted for a particular race series due to the nature of the racing.
  8. Unsportsmanlike conduct is subject to penalties. Any driver attempting to wreck or intentionally ram another competitor may be banned from the series, chapter or CMS entirely.
  9. English is the official language of the CMS community on or off track and all members are advised to comply with this communication.

Event Communications

  1. The race event shall use an audible communication program (such as iRacing chat, Teamspeak, or Discord) for race admins to communicate with drivers during an event. Race admins/race directors are responsible for the regulation of voice chat by competitors.
  2. The extent of acceptable text chat during any session is the decision of the race admins.

Official Practice & Qualifying Sessions (Race Day)

  1. The oversight of these sessions is the responsibility of race series or event admins. Admins can report any misconduct to be reviewed by stewards, which may lead to penalties or probation. CMS General Rules and Regulations and chapter supplemental rules apply to all sessions.

Race Starts

  1. Formation lap and race start procedures will be determined by admins and will be outlined in each chapter’s supplemental rules or rules for a particular series.
  2. Tire and brake warming (accelerating and slowing abruptly or weaving) is prohibited in the pitlane and during the formation lap. Chapter supplemental rules may override this rule.
  3. The start of any race and first lap is the most likely time for incidents occur. To control avoidable contacts, first corner pile-ups or aggressive driving habits, there will be a designated “Orange Zone” (OZ), inside which drivers are expected to be more cautious, to avoid high-consequence incidents and the potential for ending someone’s race.
  4. The OZ starts at the designated starting point for the race and shall generally run for at least the first 1/4 of the circuit and up to a full lap at the discretion of the race admins.
  5. Avoidable incidents in the OZ will result in more severe penalties from the stewards. OZ info shall be posted in driver briefings by admins.
  6. The race admins may declare certain sections of the track a permanent OZ for the duration of the race.

Track Limits

  1. Drivers have to keep at least one tire in contact with the racing surface to be considered “on track”.
  2. White (or other color) lines at the edge of the track surface define the racing surface (which includes the lines themselves). If a track or a section of a track has no border lines, the edge of the asphalt is the boundary of the racing surface.
  3. Admins are allowed to exclude certain corners at some tracks from the track limit rules and cutting an apex or going wide will be allowed at such places. These exceptions must be posted in advance in driver briefings with the reasons explained.
  4. At certain road courses or street circuits where track boundaries may not be clear, admins should explain in advance how they will define track boundaries.
  5. Pit entry/exit lanes are considered part of the racing surface for the cars on track, unless admins decide otherwise for certain track layouts. Drivers using the pits have to stay within pit entry/exit lane lines with all four wheels and are not allowed to cross over. Riding on the line will be acceptable.
  6. Going off track with all four wheels due to a mistake is considered part of racing. Repeated offs at the same corner(s) may be deemed as gaining an advantage and a penalty may be given.
  7. Gaining a position, gaining an advantage against a competitor or gaining track position (gaining time) by leaving the track in any way is against the rules and may lead to a penalty unless the position is given back immediately or driver slows down to compensate within the same lap.

How to Comply With Flags

  1. Yellow flags are enforced and drivers need to respect a rule of “No passing when under yellow”.
  2. In case it is unclear during review (in replay) when and where the yellow was displayed, any penalty decision will be at the discretion of the stewards.
  3. Blue flags are advisory only and mean faster/lapping cars are approaching. The blue flagged driver must exercise sportsmanship & allow racing room.
  4. A blue-flagged driver is not allowed to defend his track position against a lapping car and should stay in his/her line. At corner approach, Passing & On-track Behavior rules 3, 4 & 5 apply to both drivers.
  5. Lapped drivers are allowed to unlap themselves. At this point, blue flagged driver is expected to open a gap to move out of blue flag advisory distance. If the said driver can not accomplish this How to Comply to Flags rules 3 & 4 will be in effect again.
  6. FCY (full course yellow) may be used if there is a live race director, and it will be their decision on when to use it. Race admins must ensure that the FCY procedures are posted in the driver briefings prior to the race.

Passing & On-track Behavior

  1. The driver in front has the right to choose any line at any section of the track. The driver in front loses this right when an overtaking driver brings their front wheel to line up with the other driver’s head. At this point, drivers are in “side-by-side” position and both have to give each other room to race fairly on the racing surface.
  2. Defending is allowed and accepted as one reactionary move by the driver in front. Drivers are not allowed to defend if there is any overlap* between cars. Note that following a racing line into a corner is not considered defending (unless the cars are deemed side-by-side, in which case racing room must be provided).
  3. Both the passing driver and the driver being passed are responsible for fair racing during the pass. It is the passing driver’s responsibility to choose a safe timing for the pass.
  4. Passing attempts when going into a turn are where most avoidable incidents happen. The preferred racing line through most corners is usually very narrow and sometimes it will be impossible for two cars to negotiate tight corners side-by-side at full speed. For each corner, the right to the preferred racing line is decided at the turn-in point. A driver attempting to pass at corner entry has to be in a side-by-side position, as defined in Rule 1 of this section, at the turn-in point to have a right to enter the corner side-by-side. If not, they must back off and give way to driver up front.
  5. Dive-bombing* should be avoided and is subject to a penalty. If the attempting driver is either out of or loses control and causes contact or time loss to other driver, any applied penalty may be harsher than normal.
  6. Brake checking, unnecessary slowing thru a corner (lingering at or near apex to block other drivers), punting, bump-passing, cutting-off/chopping* are all deemed deliberate and unsportsmanlike actions whether there is contact or not, and subject to penalty.
  7. Blocking* is not allowed and subject to a penalty.
  8. Weaving to break a draft is considered blocking.
  9. Out-of-control or spinning drivers must lock their brakes until fully stopped and are ready to move once again under control. This is a racing safety measure as it makes it easier for other drivers to predict the movements of the car out of control/spinning.
  10. Drivers who go off track limits but can keep their cars under control shall ensure they rejoin the racing surface in a safe manner by slowing down and/or waiting for traffic to clear.
  11. Flashing of lights is permitted to either signal an impending pass or that way will be given for a pass by a faster driver. The flashing can not be more than 3 flashes or longer than 2 seconds.
  12. In the pit, cars on the faster lane have right-of-way. Cars coming out of their pit box should wait or delay their move to the fast lane if there is going to be an overlap between cars.

Notes on GR (Golden Rule)

Performing GR is completely up to the drivers and there will be no guarantee they will get any deduction in penalty amount (if there is an IRR). However, stewards will have leniency towards reducing the penalty if:

  • It is performed immediately at the scene of contact.
  • It is done in a safe manner and without impeding other drivers on track.
  • If damage to other driver is minimum and he/she did not suffer any position loss or received heavy damages.

Incident Review Request (IRR) Process & Penalties

  1. There will be no automatic race review by race stewards.
  2. Stewards (Race Review Committee) will only review incidents that are submitted by involved drivers or series admins/race directors.
  3. Reviews will be conducted by a minimum of two stewards and penalty decisions shall be by majority vote. There may be a requirement of a third steward review.
  4. Live race director in a race will have no authority to assign in-race penalties. He shall submit IRR to the Race Review Committee for post-race review.
  5. Penalties assessed through the IRR process shall be served on the next race in that series in which the penalized driver/team competes.
  6. Penalties assessed in the last race of the series, will be applied to that final race as a time or lap deduction and the results recalculated (see time conversion of penalties).
  7. Incident categories and the scope of penalties for incidents are as follows:
  • Racing incident/unavoidable contact: no penalty.
  • Avoidable contact or action: Warning, Stern Warning, NQ (No Qualification), DT (Drive Through), SG (Stop and Go), SH (Stop and Hold, 5 to 60 seconds in length), Loss of a lap, DQ (disqualification from results)
  • Unsportsmanlike conduct or any other misdemeanor: Stop&Hold penalties, lap deduction, disqualification from race results, probation (length determined by Review Committee), ban (length determined by Review Committee.)

Serving Penalties

DT, SG, or SH penalties have to be served within the first 3 laps of the race. SG or SH penalties need to be served at the end of pit lane or in front of race control garages, clear of any pit boxes, without blocking/occupying the fast lane. Drivers must not take service on the same pit entry.

Drivers who race without serving their penalty, or serve their penalty incorrectly, will receive more severe penalties (up to disqualification from race results) in addition to being required to serve the original penalty correctly. Penalties served incorrectly may receive a Warning on a first offense only if stewards can verify no advantage was gained. Drivers are required to check with their series/chapter information for series- or sim-specific penalty serving requirements.

Possible steward decisions on incorrectly served penalties

    • Stewards can verify no advantage gained†: Warning, penalty accepted as served (first offense)
    • Served incorrectly with possible advantage: Warning, must serve penalty again (first offense)
    • Raced, did not serve: Warning, must serve again (first offense)
    • Incorrectly served, or not served: DSQ (subsequent offenses)

†No advantage gained means the stewards were able to verify that the driver incurred the full penalty, and did not stop in their own pit box.

Penalty Time Conversion Table

NQ = 15 sec
DT = 25 sec
SG = 30 sec
SHxx seconds = 30 sec + xx sec

Submitting Incident Review Requests (IRRs)

Please join the RRC Discord, where you will be able to submit Incident Review Requests (IRRs) as well as learn more about the Race Review Committee, or even apply to become a steward, if that’s something you’re passionate about!

For iRTES incidents, please see the iRTES #series-announcements channel on the CMS Discord.

The cool-down period after a race is a minimum of 12 hrs. During this time IRRs will not be accepted. And submissions can not be later than 48 hrs after the cool-down period. We recommend drivers contact involved parties first via direct messaging to solve any misunderstandings before resorting to the IRR system.

Definitions

  • Golden Rule: CMS Golden Rule is; Treat others as you would like others to treat you, if you cause someone else difficulties and you gain unfairly as a result, give it (position) back.
  • Overlap: Is defined as any part of the car overlapping (lining up) with any part of another car.
  • Turn-in Point: This is defined as the point where the driver starts to turn into the corner entry. It can be observed with the steering input of the driver. Determining a turn-in point for any corner can be very tricky due to different class cars having varying speeds and braking performances and will be at the discretion of race stewards.
  • Dive-Bombing: A driver who is following another driver and suddenly peels off and dives on the inside unexpectedly at corner entry (past turn-in point). It is prone to contact and is ill-advised.
  • Blocking: Changing racing line more than once, or weaving as a defensive maneuver.
  • Cutting-off/chopping: Aggressive or sudden change of racing line in close proximity to the following car.

Abbreviations used by RRC  (Race Review Committee)

RI – Racing Incident
GR – Golden Rule
AC – Avoidable Contact
NQ – No qualification run
DT – Drive Thru
SG – Stop & Go (come to a full stop and take off)
SHxx – Stop & Hold x amount seconds (for assigned time duration)
FTLB – Fail to Lock Brakes
DQ – Disqualification from results
DNS – Did Not Start
RD – Race Director
RC – Race Control