XPLR Penalty Structure

We are always looking to improve the way in which our competitions are run, which includes how they are stewarded.  We are very grateful to have XPR ChicaiN heading our steward team, and he has asked that our current penalty structure is reviewed.

As always we like to involve the community in the future of the site as we take full consideration of member opinions.

XPR ChicaiN's concern is that the penalties currently used are too harsh (bear in mind that 2 points is a track position, so 10 points is a 5 place drop).

There is no vote with this discussion as we do not want to influence one way or another, we would just like to invite people to have their say.

The current system has been around for a while and only allows fixed penalties to make things clear and consistent.

So points for thought:

Should penalties be fixed for each offence?
Are the current fixed penalties too harsh/too lenient?


Here is the current penalty structure as copied from the rules:

Penalties

Failure to pit
Loss of all points gained for that race
No percentage discount is allowed with this infringement

Persistent corner cutting to gain an advantage* (Also relates to using run off areas)
Corner cutting is a very serious offence as it is basically cheating and therefore carries the chance of loss of all points for that race and reporting for abnormal behaviour for the most persistent corner cutting infringements. Less serious cases will not be dealt with as harshly.
No percentage discount is allowed with this infringement

Causing a collision*
20 point deduction

Pitting improperly*
5 point deduction (applies to entry and exit, 10 point maximum deduction)

Gaining an advantage as a result of departure*
10 point deduction

Rejoining the track unsafely*
10 point deduction

Failure to yield* (in relation to being lapped)
10 point deduction

Blocking*
10 point deduction

Abnormal behavior
No set deduction, offences of this nature will be reviewed by CO`s and may be passed on to admin for severe punishment.

Dangerous driving
No set deduction, offences of this nature will be reviewed by CO`s and may be passed on to admin for severe punishment.

* With any offense of this nature comes the possibility that either dangerous driving or abnormal behavior can be added for more serious offences.

Personally I think the current system is fine. If you make somebody feel hard done by enough to put an SI in you deserve a big penalty. Pretty much everybody I know will do everything they can before they put in a SI. If you reduce the penalty for committing an offence there is always the chance of racers becoming more reckless because they know the penalty is goingg to be less.

IMO if it isn't broke don't fix it. By having harsh penalties you produce better racing because people aren't going to make them silly moves that are never going to work because they know there is a considerable punishment in doing so. But that's just what I think on the situation

A little after the fact but I agree with Haydon and also have had moments where I felt wronged but felt bad about putting in the SI as of the severity of the penalty.

I agree with Hayden here. I've seen other organisers go slack on the penalties and it does absolutely no good. There needs to a firm fist put down with penalties so people know they cannot bend the rules, gain unlawfully or ruin the events for other people.