GENERAL INFORMATION
Russian Circuit Racing Series (SMP RSKG) - since 2014, the official name of all-Russian competitions in the status of the Championship, Cup and Championship of the Russian Federation, as well as the RAF Cup.
SMP RSKG continues the glorious traditions of domestic motorsport: in 2020, circuit racing in Russia will turn 65 years old.
The Russian circuit racing series is held under an agreement between the RAF and the SMP Racing motorsport development program. Up to 90 athletes are registered for the stages. Competitions take place at modern circuits in the Moscow region, Grozny, Sochi, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Smolensk. In 2020, the geography will expand thanks to the opening of the new Igora Drive circuit near St. Petersburg, where a joint stage of the SMP RSKG and the international DTM series will take place.
The races are broadcast live on the website smp-rskg.tv, where video recordings of past stages are also available. Since 2019, online broadcasts have become available to a large audience of the Yandex.Ether Internet portal.
The SMP RSKG races are coming out in live TV channels “Match TV” and “Match! Country”, and review programs on the “Auto Plus” channel.
Intense competition between the best pilots, competition between foreign cars and original domestic models, show programs and entertainment for fans - you can see all this at the stages of the Russian circuit racing series.
Under the leadership of Oleg Petrikov and the support of SMP Racing, Russian circuit motorsport received a new impetus: new information partners were attracted, online broadcasts of races were organized, reports, reviews and thematic programs about SMP RSKG were broadcast on television and radio stations. The official tire partner of the Russian series is YOKOHAMA. The number of spectators at the stage reaches 22,000 people.
The teams are sponsored by oil companies LUKOIL And ROSNEFT, holding TAIF, a well-known manufacturer of auto components Delphi, company Industrial Power Machines, oil brand G-Energy and many others.
In the 2017 season SMP Racing And LADA Sport ROSNEFT entered into an agreement, according to which AVTOVAZ and ROSNEFT acted title partners of SMP RSKG. This made it possible to increase the audience of fans of the Russian circuit racing series, and spectators of each stage got a chance win a new hatchback LADA Kalina Drive Active.
The SMP RSKG starts before 90 pilots, number of participants per season - up to 118 people.
Thanks to the support of the Women in Motorsport committee and Women's Health magazine, three of the most successful pilots of the Russian circuit racing series in the 2017 season they shared the prize money million rubles.
Live broadcasts of races are available on TV channels Match TV, Match! Country And AUTO24. Also, online broadcasts and archives of races of all seasons of the SMP RSKG can be found on media site smp-rskg.tv. In the new season, you can follow the SMP RSKG races on the Yandex.Ether portal.
CLASSES
Since 2015 in SMP RSKG cars presented 5 classes: Touring And Touring-Light in the status of the Russian Championship, Super production And National (from 2019 - S1600), where the country's Cups are played, as well as Championship SMP RSKG National Junior (from 2019 - S1600 Junior). In the 2020 season, the number of classes will increase to 8 - thanks to the introduction of tests S2000(in it, gentleman drivers in TCR cars with DSG gearboxes will compete for the Russian Cup), SMP GT4 Russia(tournament for amateur drivers who choose prestigious models of the international category GT4) and Sports prototype CN(MitJet 2L, Legends and Shortcut “silhouettes” are allowed here). The last two classes have RAF Cup status.
Touring- the most powerful cars with a power of about 350 hp. A similar class exists in European national championships; such cars are used in the FIA ETCC European Cup. In the 2014 season in Russian Touring, pilots competed in BMW 320si, LADA Granta Sport, SEAT Leon Supecopa, Subaru BRZ. Since 2015, SEAT Leon Racer cars, prepared according to the requirements of the new international championship TCR International series, have been admitted to this class. In 2016, the number of such cars increased to eight, and in the SMP RSKG 2017 season there were twice as many TCR category cars: in addition to SEATs, Audi RS3 and LADA Vesta sedans will appear in the field. A year later they appeared Volkswagen Golf TCR, the number of drivers in Touring has reached 24.
In the 2019 season, Hyundai i30 N hatchbacks debuted (on one of them Dmitry Bragin defended the championship title for the fourth time in a row), and in total they took part in the races 27 athletes. In addition, pilots with international licenses competed in the open competition for the first time TCR Russia, approved by the FIA.
Super production- Touring class cars of previous years or specially designed on the basis of serial ones, developing about 250 hp: Honda Civic, LADA Vesta, LADA Granta, Subaru BRZ and Mazda3.
Touring-Light- compact cars with a power of about 200 hp. This is an engineering class that allows you to deeply modernize cars of a wide variety of brands and models: Kia Rio, Volkswagen Polo, Ford Fiesta, SEAT Ibiza, Renault Twingo, Peugeot 208, LADA Kalina NFR. For the 2017 season, a Hyundai Solaris hatchback was built according to the requirements of the Touring-Lite class. And in 2019, Ravon R3 Nexia sedans started for the first time - and one of them brought Efim Gantmakher the title of vice-champion.
S1600 (formerly National)- the most accessible and popular class. Since 2014, along with the most common LADA Kalina, Volkswagen Polo Sedan, Kia Rio, Ford Fiesta and Renault Sandero of domestic assembly have been participating in the races. Now they will be joined by a new product from AVTOVAZ - the restyled hatchback LADA Granta.
S1600 Junior (until 2019 - SMP RSKG Championship National Junior) - youth series, created in 2015. Boys and girls from 14 to 17 years old take part in it, driving domestic cars - these are LADA Kalina hatchbacks and Volkswagen Polo sedans. Technical requirements assume the same high level safety, as in the senior classes of the SMP RSKG, but a lesser degree of modification, the use of inexpensive components and affordable entry fees.
SMP Formula 4- a formula series for young drivers, which started as part of the Northern European Championship in 2015. In the 2019 season, we saw pilots at the start who fought for the RAF Cup and shared the paddock with SMP RSKG participants from other classes.
AUTODROMS
In 2019 7 stages The Russian circuit racing series will be held on 7 racing tracks in the country:
Fortress Grozny
Smolensk ring
Nizhny Novgorod ring
ADM Moscow (Myachkovo)
Moscow Raceway
Sochi Autodrom
In 2014, SMP RSKG pilots became first, who spent a racing weekend at Sochi Autodrom a month before the first Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix, then competed as support races for the TCR International Series and SMP Formula 4 Championship.
COMPETITION RULES
Every race weekend pilots of each class SMP RSKG is carried out two races each lasting 20-30 minutes.
Until this year, cars from qualifying groups Touring and Super Production started in a combined race. However, in the SMP RSKG - 2017, the number of applications will allow separate races for each category without compromising the filling of the starting grid and entertainment.
Class participants Touring-Light, National And Championships SMP RSKG National Junior also start as part of their tests.
Thus, with the participation of all five classes at the stage, viewers will see eight races, some of which will pass on Saturday, Part - on Sunday.
At joint stages with the international touring series TCR International series and formulaic SMP F4 Chamionship the number of races will increase.
At each stage there are trainings and qualifying races, which will determine the pilot positions at the start of the first race, which is produced on the move. Positions are distributed according to the racer's time on the course. Anyone who shows a result worse than 107% of the leader’s time is not allowed to compete.
Starting places in the second race, where the start takes place from the spot are determined based on the results of the previous race. Top ten finishers starts V reverse order - this rule applies to all scoring groups.
ACCOUNTING POINTS AND AWARDS
This season the points system returns, close to that adopted in the FIA championships - the only difference is that points are awarded to the first 15 finishers:
1st place - 25 points, 2nd place - 20 points, 3rd place - 16 points, 4th place - 13 points, 5th place - 11 points,
6th place - 10 points, 7th place - 9 points, 8th place - 8 points, 9th place - 7 points, 10th place - 6 points,
11th place - 5 points, 12th place - 4 points, 13th place - 3 points, 14th place - 2 points, 15th place - 1 point
For best time in qualifying and in the race rely on 1 extra point . Thus, an athlete can earn up to 53 points .
Counts for the season results of all seven stages; dialed maximum quantity points becomes the winner in its class.
In SMP RSKG award ceremony winners of each race are held immediately after arrival. Cups are awarded for first, second and third places both in individual and team competitions.
Cups for prizes in individual and team competitions at the end of the season are awarded on final stage Russian circuit racing series.
Circuit racing- a general name for several types of car racing, held on special paved tracks. The main feature of such competitions is that the track has a closed shape (ring).
Circuit auto racing is very popular and spectacular. Probably each of us has watched Nascar or Formula 1 races on TV at least once and sincerely rooted for one of the participants. Unfortunately, not everyone can engage in motorsports - you need to be a professional driver and at the same time be aware that auto racing is one of the most dangerous species sport that has claimed the lives of more than one star.
Our distant ancestors also loved driving fast. Perhaps the prototype of auto racing was chariot racing in Ancient Rome. Since then, this sport has been constantly improved with technological progress. From chariots, racers moved to bicycles, and later to motorcycles, cars/trucks and fireballs (cars of a special design that develop enormous speed). Almost every year, car designers improve their creations, improving streamlining and increasing the possible speed of movement.
Conventionally, circuit racing can be divided into open-wheel car competitions and touring car championships.
Auto racing with open wheel cars– racing in special cars with wheels removed from the body, the so-called fireballs. The main competitions of this type are as follows:
Formula 1- most popular look auto racing, a competition between cars with an engine power of up to 600 hp, which accelerate to 360 km/h. Racing cars firms participating in the racing process differ from each other in various improvements, mainly in the field of aerodynamics. This is the fastest, most expensive and, unfortunately, the most life-threatening type of auto racing;
Indy Racing League- a popular type of competition from the USA, which usually takes place on oval tracks. Unlike Formula, cars are created by only one or two companies, only individual modifications are allowed;
A1 Grand Prix- a type of competition created by an Arab sheikh, the “battle of nations” - as in it the main battle is between teams of racers from different countries. It is a monoclass - all participants’ cars are absolutely identical;
Formula Rus is the Russian answer to Formula 1. The races take place on special cars of the same name as the race, all settings are the same for different cars.
Body racing– competitions in cars with appearance serial Modification of cars in the field of suspension, wheels, engine, brakes, aerodynamics is allowed, within the framework of the regulations. Main competitions:
RTCC– the Russian Touring Car Cup, which has existed since 1955, is the most popular racing championship in the CIS. The number of participants reaches 80 people in four categories of cars;
NASCAR is the most popular racing series in America. The championship includes 36 tracks in North America;
DTM- German auto racing series. Includes many European trails. Among the participants there are many stars from other racing series.
The goal of the competitor is simple - to come first. Usually, before the main races, qualifying takes place to determine each car's place on the starting line. The higher the place on the starting grid, the earlier the driver will begin his journey to victory. The race takes place along a fast track with many turns and other surprises. Usually the race lasts 2-3 hours (Formula 1), but can last for a whole day (“24 hours of Nürburgring”). It is also necessary to make pit stops on the track in order to refuel and change tires.
Often the race is stopped due to an accident on the track. This is, unfortunately, an all too common occurrence in auto racing and is therefore its main drawback. If you got there, you can be glad that you returned safe and sound. In addition, there is a battle between the riders for scoring points based on the results of the race.
Don’t think that racing is for professionals; there are championships for car enthusiasts too.
For example, synchronized circuit racing among amateurs is regularly held at the KVC Autodrom in Tolyatti, Samara Region. By paying a participation fee, every car owner can take part in the competition.
Circuit racing games - we drive in circles
Circuit racing were among the first computer games. They continue to develop even now, becoming more and more diverse in terms of plot content and possibilities. Cars of the same type, differing only in color, are now acquiring individuality. You can first tune your car or motorcycle, making it original. Now take him out onto the track and wait for the start signal. In the future, everything depends on the dexterity of your manipulations.
Opponents try to get around you, cut you off and even push you off the road. Do not try to repeat their rudeness, so as not to run into a fine. If you are in a simulator, online circuit racing games open up additional opportunities - stopping for quick repairs and refueling, switching views from general plan for a first-person view. Some flash toys use similar tasks, inviting kids to go through a small quest with washing, refueling and changing the wheels of the car before the race.
There will be a joyful meeting with the characters of the cartoon "Cars", where everyone tries to win the main cup. Mario, Fixies, Ben 10, Santa and other characters are not averse to competing on speed and experiencing extreme sports. In front of them on the road there will certainly be jumps and obstacles that must be avoided, so attentiveness must be increased.
Features of circuit racing
Circuit races are those races that take place on closed tracks. The classics are Formula 1 (2.3), GP1 (2.3), Super-Production, Touring, but karting and rallycross, although they are also held on closed roads, are not considered circuit racing.
A track with a smooth, even surface is called an autodrome, and it also has its own characteristics:
- A complex of structures intended for spectators and maintenance of equipment.
- Race track with white markings.
- The track has safety elements - nets, shoulders, stopping barriers, departure zones.
- The ring track converges at one point - the car’s departure point and its finish point coincide.
Circuit racing games go beyond traditional boundaries
If in reality strict rules are applied for circuit racing, then computer games can afford to move away from rigid boundaries.
You can play circuit racing drift games by driving a car on an icy road. The car skids when slightly deviating from the straight course. It is especially difficult to cope with it on turns, but this is the essence - the car should skid. There will be several tasks - in the first case, you need to repeat the movements of the leading car as accurately as possible, another time try to get around other participants.
Water racing is even more difficult to classify as circuit racing, but it is also present in this collection. Motor boats, yachts and boats put on a real show, raising fountains of spray. Everyone tries to finish the competition first, becoming a leader. We are rooting for you, and this should give you the excitement and strength to become a winner.
Sometimes one of the tasks will be destruction. Crash into other cars at full speed, and the worse the provoked accident involving several objects turns out, the better your rating will be. When you go into space, you will not only leave the confines of the race track, but also the planet. And yet you are in a racing section, so start the engine, maneuver between asteroids, and bypass other participants.
Organize chair races in the office and help the floor polisher do the job faster than others by finishing cleaning your area. And since we’re so carried away, let’s include dog and horse racing here.