1979: The Ground Effect Revolution
Get ready, THR. This isn’t just another Championship. This is a time machine back to one of the most thrilling, dangerous, and innovative seasons in Formula One history – and you’re invited to live it.
There are seasons in Formula One history that stand apart — moments where everything changed. One of those seasons was 1979. It was a year where genius, bravery, and innovation collided at full throttle. Now, through the magic of simracing, we’re bringing that raw, untamed energy back to life.
And this time, you’re in the driver’s seat.
In our upcoming F1 79 championship, we dive deep into the age of ground effect - a time when cars didn’t just cut through the air; they clung to the track, almost as if pulled downward by invisible hands. Thanks to revolutionary underbody designs, sliding skirts, and clever venturi tunnels, these machines could corner with a ferocity previously thought impossible. Drivers had to learn to trust the grip - and fear the moment they lost it.
This is the world of 1979 - where racing changed forever.
This was no era of driver aids or stability control. It was physics at the bleeding edge. And the consequences of getting it wrong? Immediate.
This isn’t modern F1. This is mechanical grip, driver bravery, and aerodynamic wizardry from a time when Formula One was still wild.
But we’re not just recreating a season - we’re creating a community experience. Drivers will have a choice of historically-inspired or custom liveries. We’ll run authentic race formats, visit classic circuits, and pay tribute to the legends who once dared to tame these monsters. Every race will be more than just competition; it will be a page in a story we write together.
Are you ready to step into the cockpit?
Registration
The registration logic between the Championship Main Events (Sunday) and Practice Race Events (Saturday) is the same:
- You have to renew your registration for each event of the championship
- Separate registration lists between Saturday (Practice Races) and Sunday (Championship Race after Weekday Qualifying)
- Registrations for every race weekend usually open on Monday of the same week
- After submitting your registration for this week's championship event, you can immediately join the championship qualifying server by default* **
*Usually, you will immediately be able to connect to the qualifying server successfully. Until the next automatic 2-hourly restart of the qualifying server, you might see a different skin than the booked one on your car on this server. This condition always gets corrected by the next 2-hourly autorestart of the server.
**Only in rare cases, joining will continue to fail with the message "No slots available". If this continues to happen more than 2 hours after submitting your championship event registration for the week, please inform the @Orga team in our community discord's #drivers channel.
Registration Link for Championship Qualifying & Race sessions:
http://5.75.183.156:8772/championships?server=4
Onboarding Process for New Participants
New community members need to have three ACSR races in the records to get permission to start in the Championship Races on Sundays. To achieve this, they can participate in the "WKDY" races on Wednesdays, or in the practice races on Saturday. Each of these events contains 3 ACSR sessions each (qualifying & 2 race sessions).
If you think you are experienced enough to bypass this safety gate and start in the Main Event races immediately, please go to the #thr-ticket-system in the top section of our Discord channel list and fill out the form "Fast Main Race Permission" with verifiable references to fast-track your onboarding request.
Short term upcoming events
- Saturday May 10, 2025
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Open Wheeler (tbd) | Practice Races | tbd
Saturday May 10, 2025 21:30
1 day from now
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- Sunday May 11, 2025
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Open Wheeler (tbd) | Fun Event | tbd
Sunday May 11, 2025 21:30
2 days from now
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Car
RSS Formula 79
Our grid will feature the RSS Formula 79 car. It is inspired and recreates the Lotus 79, refined and elegant.
RSS says that we can expect:
- Full working ground effects!
- An amazing V8 engine that outputs as much as 475 horsepower
- Huge rear tyres!
- And most importantly, a lot of fun powersliding the car out of the corners!
The skin pack linked below contains 53 skins based on real skins from the 1978/1979/1980 season and will bring great diversity to our championship races.
Balance of Performance (BoP)
A BoP is not necessary this time as we will all be driving the same car.
A blessing and a curse at the same time 😉
Car Downloads
THR Skinpack
We have tons of beautiful custom skins from our members.
You can find the skins for the F1 1979 cars here:
https://thr.vacbot.cz/skinpacks/THR_assorted_skinpack.7z
If you want to make your own skin and race it in THR races, have a look here:
https://thracing.de/community/custom-skins/
Tracks
Brands Hatch
A sprawling, demanding circuit that tests both car and driver to their limits. The long, sweeping corners and significant elevation changes require a car that handles well at high speed and a driver with immense stamina. The seemingly endless straights offer overtaking opportunities, but the bumpy surface demands respect and precise car placement. Navigating through the banked Turn 1 and the long, uphill climb out of Turn 2 demands the car and driver need to work in harmony. Mastering Interlagos requires a deep understanding of the car's setup and a brave commitment to carrying speed through its daunting curves.
Monza
Tucked into the lush Kent countryside, Brands Hatch is a rollercoaster of a circuit that tests a driver’s rhythm and bravery. The undulating layout, with its blind crests and rapid elevation changes, demands total commitment and precision. Paddock Hill Bend, the fearsome downhill right-hander that starts the lap, sets the tone with its unforgiving entry and tricky camber. The narrow confines and lack of runoff reward focus and punish even the slightest mistake. Surtees and Hawthorn bend provide key overtaking opportunities, while the fast Westfield and Dingle Dell sections require supreme car control. Brands Hatch is a classic driver’s circuit - compact, technical, and relentlessly thrilling.
Long Beach
Set against the backdrop of the Pacific Ocean and palm-lined streets, Long Beach is a gritty, unforgiving street circuit that challenges both precision and nerve. The tight concrete-lined course snakes through the city with a mix of slow, angular corners and short blasts of acceleration. Bumps and surface changes are constant, making mechanical grip and suspension setup crucial. The hairpin at the end of the lap demands patience and perfect throttle control, while the sweeping Queen’s Hairpin and Shoreline Drive straight offer rare chances to attack. Mistakes are punished by the walls, and overtaking is always a high-risk gamble. Long Beach also known as America’s Monaco - glamorous, unpredictable, and mercilessly demanding.
Jarama
Constructed into the arid hills north of Madrid, Jarama is a tight, technical circuit that demands concentration and finesse over raw power. Its narrow layout and relentless sequence of medium- and slow-speed corners place a premium on precision and rhythm. With little room for error and few overtaking spots, qualifying performance is often decisive. The blind crests and off-camber turns test a driver’s ability to read the track and balance the car through constant direction changes. Jarama rewards the smooth and disciplined - those who could thread the needle lap after lap without losing focus or momentum. It’s a track that whispers, not shouts, its challenge.
Hockenheim
Carved through the dense forests of Baden-Württemberg, the Hockenheimring is a high-speed test of engine power, slipstreaming, and nerves. The long straights through the woods stretch the limits of top speed, with only a few chicanes offering moments to brake and breathe. Precision in these braking zones is vital, as mistakes at high speed are costly. After the flat-out blasts, the stadium section delivers a sudden, dramatic shift - tight, technical corners surrounded by grandstands that amplify every move. It’s here that setups are truly tested, requiring a compromise between straight-line speed and mechanical grip. Hockenheim is a circuit of extremes - raw pace through the forest and delicate control in the arena.
Monaco
Winding through the glitz and glamour of Monte Carlo, Monaco is the ultimate precision circuit - narrow, unforgiving, and utterly unique. With armco barriers inches from the racing line and no room for error, it demands absolute focus and millimetre-perfect driving. The twisty layout, with its tight hairpins, sudden elevation changes, and short straights, leaves no space to relax. Corners like Mirabeau, the Loews Hairpin, and the tunnel into the Nouvelle Chicane are iconic tests of car control and bravery. Monaco is a race where qualifying could mean everything, and where the driver made more difference than the machine. Graceful, brutal, and mesmerizing - it remains Formula 1’s crown jewel.
Watkins Glen
Nestled in the rolling hills of upstate New York, Watkins Glen is a fast, flowing circuit that rewards commitment and smoothness. The high-speed esses after Turn 1 form one of the most exhilarating sequences in Formula 1, demanding razor-sharp precision and confidence. Long, sweeping corners like the Outer Loop put immense load on the tires, while the downhill braking zones - especially into the toe of the Boot - test both balance and nerve. Watkins Glen offers a rare blend of rhythm and bravery, with elevation changes and high-speed sections combining to create a true driver’s circuit. It’s a place where momentum is everything, and where the line between mastery and mistake is always razor-thin.
Track Downloads:
The track downloads will be linked in the event server when the selected track is hosted on it, but you can also find them here: http://5.75.183.156:8772/tracks?server=4
Special Settings
Until 1982, they had no real pitstops in Formula 1 therefore we use the following settings.
- Fuel Rate: 75%
- Soft Tyres for Qualifying / Hard Tyres for the Races
- Tyre Wear Rate: 100%
- Damage Multiplier: 75%
- no mandatory pitstop
- Pit Speed: no pit speed limit & disabled autolimiter
- CSP Minimum Version: 0.1.77
Schedule
The current THR schedule with detailed information on the individual events can be found here.
https://thracing.de/thr-schedule/
We recommend subscribing to this calendar.
We try to stick to the dates given, but it may be that we postpone individual dates for various reasons.
Race Week Schedule
Practice Server / Testing
Server THR |1| THRacing | discord.me/THRacing hosts a looped Open Practice during the championship.
These sessions are meant to provide and test the different cars on the upcoming tracks.
You can choose any available car and get a random skin after joining.
Qualifying
After registering for one week's Championship race, you can race qualifying laps from Monday (sometimes Tuesday) to Sunday during the Race Week at any time.
THR |5| THRacing | discord.me/THRacing
(We will close the Qualifying when we have time on Sunday evening. The exact timing of the end of qualifying may vary. Please take this in account and don't wait until the very end.)
Only the best lap per driver from the qualifying server will be used to create the starting grid.
An overview of the latest laptimes per driver can be found here:
http://5.75.183.156:8772/live-timing?server=4
An overview of the laptimes per driver can be found here:
http://5.75.183.156:8772/live-timing?server=4
Races
Saturday - Practice Races
Will be hosted on Server:
THR |4| THRacing | discord.me/THRacing
The starting grid for the practice races will be based on the qualifying which takes place just before these races.
| Time of Day (CEST/CET*) | Session Title | Session Duration | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21:30 | Practice Qualifying | 30 minutes | |
| 22:05 | Practice Race 1 | 30 minutes | |
| 22:40 | Practice Race 2 | 30 minutes | Top 10 Reversed Grid |
*CET (Berlin winter time) until 30th March 2025, then switching to CEST.
You can stay on the server between these three sessions.
Sunday - Main Race
Will be hosted on Server:
THR |5| THRacing | discord.me/THRacing
Championship race based on the qualifying laptimes driven on the same server during the week.
| Time of Day (CEST/CET*) | Session Title | Session Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 21:30 | Warmup | 30 minutes |
| 22:05 | Race | 60 minutes |
*CET (Berlin winter time) until 30th March 2025, then switching to CEST.
You can stay on the server between these two sessions.
Drivers Championship
To take in account that not every racer is able to race on every weekend, the worst results will be deleted.
So only 5 out of 6 weekends count for the championship.
They did similar back in the good old days.
You must use the same car for the entire season. As soon as you have driven your first qualifying lap on the championship qualifying server, you are tied to that car. If you can't get to grips with your car at all, you can apply for exceptional permission to change cars once, but please note that there is no guarantee for an approval of this request. This will be an individual decision by the THR Organization team.
Team Championship
If you like, you can form a team of maximum 2 drivers for the Team Championship.
Both you and your team mate need to enter the same string into the "Team" field of the registration form at each of the championship races that you participate in.
Rules
The Championship follows the basic ruleset framework of the THR community.
Please read our rules page here and follow them: https://thracing.de/rules/
Participants can protest championship race incidents that they were involved in through the first 3 weekdays of the following week. The protested incidents will then be reviewed and decided upon by THR's Race Control team. You can find the incident protest form in the THR Discord server's #thr-ticket-system channel, which can be found in the "General" group of channels at the top of the channel list.
Communication
Our main communication channel is our Discord Server.
Please follow:
https://discord.me/THRacing
Or just click the button in the right menu.
It is highly recommended but not mandatory to join Voice Chat (Push to Talk) during Qualifying and Races. The primary purpose of this is to exchange important information, such as informing following drivers about accidents.
Best wishes
We wish you some really good, intense and exciting races over the next weeks!
[THR] ORGA
