Draft Promotion Demotion
This is an unofficial discussion draft of rules that might (if approved) eventually replace TRC's Gimmick_Rallye_Class_Structure. Key changes are in italic below. The most important are noted here:
- If a class has only one or two cars (one car for the Beginner class), its first-place award counts only if the score meets or exceeds that of the lowest award winner in a class above.
- Seniors and Experts are promoted if they win 3 and 4 (respectively) first-place awards in their class within 6 consecutive attempts.
- A promoted team can ask to be downgraded again if they have won no awards in 10 consecutive attempts.
Rather than copying all the text in TRC's official document, only changes and a little context are here. This document is therefore not a replacement for the official document. They'll need to be integrated.
Classes
The experience classes and the awards typically issues are as follows:
| Class | Awards typically presented |
|---|---|
| First Timer | First |
| Beginner | First, Second, Third |
| Novice | First, Second, Third |
| Senior | First, Second |
| Expert | First, Second |
| Master Expert | First, Second |
Promotion
Lower Classes
Rules for advancement for the lower classes are given below.
First Timer
Each person can only be a first timer once. We take a fairly hard line at registration. If you've been (conscious, aware, thinking, old enough [say, over 12]) in a car running a rallye ever before, you're not a first-timer.
Beginner
Beginners are folks just starting out. The current standard is that you've won fewer than 2 first-place awards in this class. (If your car is the only one in the class, your first-place award counts only if your score meets or exceeds that of the lowest award winner in a higher class.)
Novice
You'll stay a Novice until you win 3 first-place awards in this class. (If there are only 1 or 2 cars in the Novice class, your first-place award counts only if your score meets or exceeds the lowest award winner in a higher class.)
Upper Classes
"Seniors and Experts move up a class based on ability, as decided by the Competition Director or Board, rather than the number of awards won. This is done when they are consistently doing well or dominating their class over their last several rallyes." -- Operating Procedures IX, F, 1, b.
This proposes firmer rules for moving up in the upper division, based on the number of first-place award within a number of attempts (rallye entries). One team might take only 6 months to enter 6 TRC rallyes; another team might take more than a year to enter 6 TRC rallyes. These rules assume that each person is tracking their own entries and first place wins (though we know most rallyists just try to remember and recent results have not been sufficiently complete to allow reconstruction after the fact).
Senior
You'll stay a Senior until you win 3 first-place awards in this class within 6 consecutive attempts. (If there are only 1 or 2 cars in the Senior class, your first-place award counts only if your score meets or exceeds that of the lowest award winner in a higher class.)
Expert
You'll stay an Expert until you win 4 first-place awards in this class within 6 consecutive attempts. (If there are only 1 or 2 cars in the Expert class, your first-place award counts only if your score meets or exceeds that of the lowest award winner in a higher class.)
Master Expert
As this is our top class, Master Experts are not promoted. A "Grand Master" class could be added, if certain teams were dominating the Master Expert class.
Downgrading
If a team has won no awards in 10 consecutive attempts, they may ask the competition director (mailto:compdir@TheRallyeClub.org ?) to allow them to be downgraded by one class. When a team is downgraded, each rallyist's count of wins and attempts is reset.
Temporary Downgrading
It is common that a team sometimes rallyes without one of the most experienced "key players." Such a team may ask the registrar to allow them to be temporarily downgraded by one class. If that team wins a first-place award in that lowered class, and if their score meets or meets or exceeds that of the lowest award winner in their normal higher class, then they should not request a temporary demotion again for the same subset of rallyists in their team.