The Car

The RSS Formula Americas 2020 (aka IndyCar) is a paid mod.  It can be purchased from the RSS web shop.  If you absolutely cannot afford to buy the mod, we may have a few available with a 100% off coupon which our community members chipped in for.  Ask a mod in Discord.  However, at only €3.85 we feel like this is excellent value for an entire season, and that buying the mod helps to keep the AC ecosystem alive and rewards RSS for their excellent work.

We have, however, made some modifications to the car, to make it a little more stable over kerbs.  In order to race this car on our servers, you will need to follow these instructions:

• Purchase and install the RSS car as normal.
• Download the ACRL data.acd file from here.
• Find and open your car's content folder within Assetto Corsa, usually in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\assettocorsa\content\cars\rss_formula_americas_2020 (This may vary depending on your install)
• 
• Copy the original data.acd file in that folder, and save it somewhere safe, outside of your game content (do NOT just rename it while keeping it in the same folder).
• Copy the data.acd you downloaded from ACRL into the rss_formula_americas_2020 folder.
• If you ever want to run this car on servers other than ACRL, you will need to copy the original data.acd back.

Please refer to the following video for a visual tutorial:

https://youtu.be/vFjdi70Ik-Q

The Events

The AmeriCar season has a two race event format.  A 60 minute practice, then a normal 15 minute quali session, followed by a 15 or 20 minute sprint race (length depends on length of the lap), which will set the grid (with no reverse) for a 45 minute feature race.  Drivers have to leave the server after the sprint race, while we set up the grid for the feature race, then rejoin when the server comes back up (usually about 5 minutes, announced in Discord).  When the server comes back up, the race session will start straight away (no practice or quali), but with a 5 minute pre-race wait time, to give people time to rejoin, load setups, and hit the Drive button. Then, a 45 minute feature race.

All races will use rolling starts.  See below for details.

Pre-Quali

In addition to using Pre-Quali (PQ) to sort drivers into multiple splits, all events this season have a mandatory PQ requirement of 3 consecutive, valid laps within 107% of the fastest PQ lap time.  If you do not meet this requirement, you will not be entered in the race.  PQ servers are available 24*7 for a week prior to each event (see the Driver Briefing tab on each event page for details).  As the fastest lap time in PQ time can obviously change during the week, it is up to you to ensure that you remain qualified.  We send out 3 emails during the course of the week to let you know if you have not met the requirement, as well as a prominent notification at the top of the ACRL web site letting you know if you are not yet meeting the requirement.

Rolling Starts

This series features rolling starts for races. The start procedure is governed by a server side plugin, no need for an app in-game, although there is a useful ACRL App here you can use..  The plugin sends clearly visible messages to all drivers.

The pole sitter decides when to start the race, within a predetermined zone which will be communicated through the app.  The start zone starts at some point before the start/finish line, and ends at the s/f line.  Regardless of whether the pole sitter has started, when the "GO!!" message is given at the end of the start zone, their race has started. The pole sitter must keep steady at ~100kph, cannot brake to try and back the entire field in order get a run while everyone is recovering. We recognize this is allowed in real life, but if we allow it, it will result in complete disaster. Once the pole sitter accelerates they are not allowed to slow down again. There are no dummy starts allowed, once the pole sitter accelerates, the race has begun. Again, this is all in an effort to make rolling starts work. If someone is deemed to have had an illegal start to a race, they will be subject to reports and penalties through the standard incident system.

The exact procedure is as follows:

• When the lights go out, the formation lap starts, in single file.
• The pole sitter will be given instructions on what speed to maintain (about 100km/h).
• Everyone else will be told which car to follow.
• Towards the end of the lap, the pole sitter will be instructed to reduce speed, and all drivers will be instructed to go double file, which side of the track they need to be on (which may not be the side your grid box was on, so pay attention), and to stop weaving.
• All drivers will be told when the start zone is approaching.
• As the pole sitter enters the start zone, they will be instructed to go when they are ready.  They can then go at any point up till the end of the start zone.
• The race starts when the pole sitter goes, or when the "GO" message is broadcast to all drivers (whichever comes first).
• It is strictly prohibited for the pole sitter to accelerate and slow down in the start zone, they must maintain a steady speed, and as soon as they accelerate, the race has started.

Messages from the server

An example of messages from the server from Sebring. The colored lines under the text correspond to the colored lines on the track-map showing when they will be displayed.  Note that these are examples from a multi-class event, so they are slightly different in the single-class AmeriCar season, but only in minor details (like there is no "Keep LEFT / RIGHT", in single class events you always double file on the same side you gridded).