📜 RFRL Official Rulebook & Code of Conduct

Admins have the right to alter, replace, or add to any of the following rules at will with no warning at anytime.

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💬 1. Discord & General Conduct

[!IMPORTANT] RFRL is built on sportsmanship and fair play. We race hard, but we treat every competitor with respect.

• Age Requirement: Drivers must be 18 years of age or older to participate in RFRL.
• Respect Competitors: No bullying, harassment, toxic behavior, or derogatory remarks in Discord or in-race text/voice chat.
• Zero Retaliation Policy: There is ABSOLUTELY NO RETALIATION under any circumstances. There is no justification for intentional payback. Violations will result in severe penalties, race suspensions, and/or immediate removal from the league at the discretion of the Race Committee and Admins.
• Discord Driver Naming: Your Discord server nickname must match your iRacing name and assigned car number: First Last #XX (e.g. Chuck Burley #48).
• Keep It Fun: Accidents happen in racing—handle disputes calmly with Race Control after the session.

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📻 2. In-Game Voice Chat & Radio Etiquette

• Pit Entry Callouts: As a courtesy and safety measure, if you have trailing drivers behind you or visible in your mirrors/relative box, please announce your pit entry over voice chat before slowing down (e.g. "#28 Pitting in 3 & 4" or "Pitting this lap"). Early callouts give trailing cars time to react and prevent rear-end collisions. (Note: If you are out on track isolated with no surrounding traffic, a voice callout is not strictly required).
• Radio Silence During Key Moments: Please minimize unnecessary radio chatter during Qualifying, Race Starts, Restarts, and Green-White-Checkers so drivers can focus and hear spotter callouts.
• No Arguments On Race Radio: In-game voice chat is for constructive race communication only. Shouting, cursing at other drivers, or arguing over incidents over the radio is strictly prohibited. Handle all incident reviews with Race Control after the race.

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🏁 3. Session Rules & Details

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🏎️ 4. Lapped Traffic & On-Track Etiquette

• Lapped Traffic Responsibilities:
  • If you are one or more laps down and running a similar or slower pace, you are required to yield and give way to lead-lap drivers. Do not block, chop, or impede lead-lap battles.
  • Fresher Tires / Unlapping Exception: Lapped drivers on fresher tires (e.g. after green-flag pit stops) are permitted to unlap themselves and pass lead-lap cars on older tires. However, unlapping passes must be executed cleanly and safely, without forcing high-risk 3-wide situations or impeding cars actively battling for position.
  • Penalty: Intentional blocking, pinching, or impeding lead-lap traffic while a lap down will result in an official Race Control penalty.
• Wall-Riding ("Ross Chastain Move") Prohibited: Intentionally riding or bouncing off the outside wall to gain speed, momentum, or positions is strictly banned.
  • Penalty: Automatic disqualification/zero points for that race + an immediate 1-Race Suspension.

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🚦 5. Start & Restart Procedures

• Restart Zone System: Initial starts and restarts use the official iRacing Restart Zone system.
• Pace Speed: The leader must maintain consistent iRacing pace speed prior to launch.
• Initial Start: The race begins on the Green Flag.
• Restarts: The leader controls the restart once entering the Restart Zone.
• Form & Spacing: Drivers must be in their assigned lane and tightly packed before the final turn. Restart gaps must be no more than one car length.
• Lane Holding Rule: On all restarts, drivers must hold their lane and may not change lanes until after crossing the Start/Finish line.
  • Exception: Lane changes made strictly for immediate wreck avoidance.
• No Beating Line: Do not beat the car ahead to the line.

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⛽ 6. Pit Road Procedures

• Pit Entry Announcements: Call out pit entry over voice chat whenever trailing traffic is near or visible in your mirrors.
• Speed Limit: Maintain pit road speed limit at all times.
• Lane Discipline: Stay to the far right of the pit lane when entering and traveling down pit road.
• Stall Box Limit: Drivers may drive through a maximum of 3 pit boxes when entering and exiting their assigned stall.

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🟨 7. Cautions & Safety Protocols

• Caution Triggers: Cautions are dictated automatically by iRacing. Manual cautions are thrown only in extreme cases by Race Control.
• Holding Brakes: If you crash or spin, HOLD YOUR BRAKES IMMEDIATELY until your car comes to a complete stop to avoid rolling into oncoming traffic.
• Safe Rejoining: Rejoin the track safely—do not pull into oncoming traffic. Unsafe rejoins resulting in contact carry heavy penalties.
• Damaged Vehicles: Damaged cars unable to maintain pace must pit or tow immediately.
• Caution Field Catchup: During cautions, catch the pace car field first, then sort scoring order second.
• Intentional Cautions: Intentionally causing a caution or self-spinning to force a yellow flag is strictly prohibited.

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🚩 8. Black Flags & Clears

[!NOTE] Race Control will only clear black flags under strict, verifiable conditions.

Cleared Penalties

Only the following black flag penalties may be requested for a clear:

1. Passing Under Yellow due directly to avoiding damaged or slow cars.
2. Pit Road Violations caused directly by emergency wreck avoidance.

Request Procedure & Integrity

• Drivers must request their own clears by stating over the radio their Car Number and reason.
• All other black flags (speeding, unsafe entry, illegal passes) will stand.
• Warning: Fraudulent clear requests will result in immediate post-race penalties and strike escalation.

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🛡️ 9. Discipline & Penalty Ladder System

The RatFink Racing League (RFRL) uses an automated Strike Escalation Ladder to ensure clean, respectful, and competitive racing. Driver incident logs are evaluated after each official race session to determine strike balances, penalty levels, and owed race control actions.

Incident Evaluation Rules

Escalation Ladder Levels

The 1-Time Mulligan (Warning) Rule

• One Warning Per Season: Each driver is granted ONE (1) Level 1 Warning / Mulligan per season.
• Permanent Exhaustion: Once a driver incurs an At-Fault incident and receives a Level 1 Warning, their Mulligan is permanently USED for the remainder of the season.
• Bypassing Warning Level: Any future At-Fault incident after using your Mulligan will skip Level 1 and send you straight to Level 2 (EOL) or higher.

Clean Race Credits (Working Off Strikes)

• Earning Clean Credits: Drivers on the discipline ladder (Level 1 or Level 2) earn 1 Clean Credit for every official race completed without an At-Fault incident.
• Clearing Strikes: Completing 3 consecutive clean races (3/3 Cleans) drops your strikes back to 0, returning you to Level 0 (Clear) status.
• Note: Dropping back to Level 0 clears active strikes, but your 1-time Warning Mulligan remains used for the season.

Serving Penalties & Tracking Status

• Executing Penalties: EOL penalties must be served at the start of your next scheduled race in that series.
• Status Verification: Once served and verified by Race Control, your OWED penalty status clears to —.
• Live Status Tracking: Drivers can track their current Level, Strikes, Mulligan Status (AVAILABLE / USED), and Clean Race Progress anytime on the Drivers Meeting page and pre-race Discord briefings.

Tickets & Appeals

• Incident Reports & Discord Tickets: Accidents happen—do not argue over incidents in public channels or in-game voice chat. All incident reports, protests, and penalty appeals must be submitted via the Discord Ticket System within 24 hours of the race.
• Penalty Appeals & Telemetry Requirement: When submitting a penalty appeal or incident review ticket, a video clip or replay showing driver telemetry inputs (steering wheel, braking, throttle) IS REQUIRED. Appeals submitted without visible driver inputs will not be reviewed by Race Control.

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Effective Date: July 25, 2026. Race Committee and Admins reserve all rights to enforce, interpret, and adjust rulings in the interest of fair competition.