LFRS Rules

Rules & Regulations
for the 1999/2000 Season

Last Updated: Tuesday October 5, 1999

Introduction

About the Series:
Welcome to the LFRS, or Little Formula Racing Series! The LFRS is a simulated racing series that uses Grand Prix 2 by Spectrum Holobyte-MicroProse and the WWW to to unite GP2 drivers from all over the world. How does it work? Basically, drivers who want to know how good they are at GP2, or who just want a bit of friendly competition join LFRS. They sign up for the series, get the race settings from from the web page or mailing list, configure GP2 accordingly and then run their race. Drivers then submit their results via a WWW form by the deadline, and the next day the results are published on the web! Points are awarded for each event, and the driver that amasses the most points over the 16 events will be crowned the LFRS Champion for their respective division. There is also a FastLap Championship and a Team Championship for each class, as well as a overall Team Championship for the Team that accumulates the most points over all the divisions.

Series Information:
LFRS was created by "Uncle" Steve Wilson. The series is currently being directed by Daniel Ryan and any urgent requests or problems you have with the series should be directed to him at admin@lfrs.com. Should you have any general problems with LFRS, please mail Mat Pietraszek at support@lfrs.com.

Driver Registration and Conduct

Drivers:
All drivers must first read the rules. Once drivers decide what division they wish to compete in, they can sign up at the LFRS registration page. Drivers are encouraged to join or start a team for the LFRS season. This can be done at any time through the registration page. If you are looking for a team to join, check the team list which will tell you which teams have empty seats.

Mailing List:
All drivers MUST subscribe to the LFRS-Admin mailing list. The LFRS-Admin list has been created to allow the directors to post admin messages etc. Also, LFRS drivers have the option (It is NOT manditory) to join the LFRS-Talk list. The list is there for competitors to discuss the series and related topics, etc. The list however is a privilege, not a right. Do not post any off-topic, personal, insulting, or illegal material. Doing so may result in your removal from the series. The LFRS-Talk mailing list is moderated by Dimitry Gerards, while the LFRS Admin mailing list is owned by Torsten Spindler. Any questions concerning the LFRS lists should be addressed to the relevant person.

Driver Behaviour:
Drivers are expected to follow the same rules of the road as our real-life counterparts do: no cutting chicanes and no "punting" opposing cars off the track. Just because we can get away without serious fines or injuries doesn't mean it's right.
All drivers in LFRS have a licence, and if your behaviour is thought to be unsatisfactory eg. breaking the above rules, not complying to the mailing list rules or any other actions which the directors find to be against the best interests of the league, the directors can revoke your license for a period of time, which disallows you from submitting results or posting to the LFRS-Talk mailing list. If you, for some reason, do not have a license (eg. the results form says you need a licence to submit results), then please e-mail the Support Director at support@lfrs.com or contact the director.
Try to be fair, honest and a good sport!

Divisions

There will be six divisions for the 1999/2000 season. Each is designed to accommodate as many drivers as possible. Drivers may only compete in one division at a time. Teams may have two cars per division (ie. A maximum of 12 drivers per team). More than 2 submissions from a team in a single division is illegal, and all drivers of this team in the offending division will be disqualified.
 
 

Class A is for drivers who use Analog controls.

Class B is for drivers who use digital controls. Class C is for drivers who use analog controls. Class D is for drivers who use digital controls. Class E is for drivers who use an Analog device and have Steering Help turned on. Class F is for drivers who are new to the game and LFRS.

Grand Prix 2 Setup

Software Requirements:
All drivers will need to have Grand Prix 2 by Spectrum Holobyte-MicroProse. The third party GP2 editor GP2Edit (v1.82) by Steven Young and the 16 LFRS Tracks have to be downloaded. If you have trouble downloading GP2Edit, contact support@lfrs.com and he will mail you a copy. GP2Lap must also be used for verification purposes. You must use between version 1.06 and 1.09 of GP2LAP. See the GP2Lap info page for more details.

Car Sets
The LFRS Carsets MUST be used by all drivers. The latest sets are on the LFRS Carset page. No changes to the carsets (ie. car performances, CC's, pitlane order etc) are to be made. Graphical changes however are allowed. When/if the carsets are updated, an announcement will be made on the mailing list and the www page.

If your team's car is in the carset, copy your car and team info to the slot that says "Your Team" within GP2Edit. Then copy the disabled team into your teams old spot. Failure to do this will result in disqualification. All drivers must always race in the car that says "Your Name". See the How To page for more info on this, as this can be a difficult process.

GP2Lap
The GP2Lap software MUST be used to start GP2. You must be using a version higher than 1.06 but no greater than 1.09. More information can be found on how to get and use GP2Lap with LFRS here.

Slowmotion (Slowmo)
Ensure that your processor occupancy (PO) is below 95% at most times while racing. You can check this by pressing "O" in the game. As a guideline, if your PO isn't more than 70-80% without any other cars on the track, (ie. in unlimited practice) it should be OK for the race. If your PO is too high, you will have to reduce the frame rate or the graphical details. Slowmotion (PO >100%) is not allowed! To avoid slomo, you may have to decrease graphic details, frame rates, switch to VGA mode, or run GP2 in DOS. If your average PO is higher than 95% over the entire race, you will be disqualified.

Reloading
Reloading your game from a saved file is not allowed during your race. You may save your game and reload during qualifying as often as you want, but reloading at anytime after the start of your race is NOT permitted.

Failures
All car failures will be turned OFF all season.

Carshapes
Use of any carshape that is not the GP2 default will result in disqualification from a race.

Other Software:
No other third party software is allowed to be used in LFRS. Use of any third party software may result in disqualification from a race. We suggest that you install GP2 twice, once for your own games, and once for LFRS. This will help ensure that you don't inadvertently race with an incorrectly configured GP2.

The Race Weekend

Race Settings:
Settings for each race are posted on the races page. Check out what settings etc are required on this page before running your race. If you are in Class F, you must also download the mandatory car setups for each race. These settings MUST be used for that event, or you will be disqualified. Check the How To guide for details on how to install the settings into the game. NOTE: Make sure that the number of laps in your copy of GP2 match the number of laps in the race settings.

Practice:
Drivers may practice as much as they choose to.

Qualifying:
Drivers have two one-hour qualifying sessions, with twelve laps in each session, to qualify. Remember that if you wish, you are allowed to reload your game in this session. Note your fastest time, and save a hotlap replay for that lap as soon as you achieve a faster time (Check the How To guide on details on how to save a hotlap). Failure to do so may result in disqualification. If you do not wish to qualify, then you must start 26th in your race.

The Race:
After practice and qualifications, it's time to run the race. Be sure you are ready to run your race, as you cannot reload. Start the race from where you qualified. Once you finish the race, save the game (even if you wreck or have a failure) immediately afterwards (Check the How To guide on details on how to save a race). Failure to do so may result in disqualification. Note the number of laps completed (the lap you were on minus one; ie. the counter shows lap 23 of 22, so you completed 22 laps), race time (if you crashed or were lapped, you don't have a race time). Also note the fastest race lap. If you did not finish the full race, you also have to submit the reason why you did not finish, so note this down too.

Submitting Results:
All results must be submitted using the web form. Fill it out entirely and in the correct format. Most errors in the results are due to drivers not filling out the form correctly.
You get a page after submitting your results which you can check to confirm your results. If you have made a mistake, use the back button on your browser and correct anything that is wrong. Remember to select the correct status (eg. Running, Flagged, DNS, Fuel) as many people have been DQ'ed for forgetting to say they crashed etc.
Results are due by Midnight Eastern Time (New York) on the date given for that event (see the race settings for details). Make sure you adjust for time zones accordingly (Hawaii 2pm, San Francisco 9pm, Britain 5am, Germany 6am, Melbourne 10:00am).

Submitting Time-Limited Race Results:
If you would like a challenge, and perhaps something more realistic, you can choose to do a Time Limited Race. This means that you must do your qualifying and race within a set time (1 hour 40 mins for Classes A and B, 1 hour 10 mins for Classes C, D, E and F).
To do this, go to the Time-Limited Race page, here. But remember to only get your code if you are ready to race, because as soon as you click Submit the clock starts ticking! You can request your Verification Number if you want to take part in the Time-Limited-Races by entering your username and password, then choosing "Yes, I want to take part in Time-Limited Races" and clicking Submit.
Once you do this, you'll be given your verification number and you are told how much time you have until your race is due. What you must now do is enter GP2, and alter your driver name by placing the verification number after it, so for example if your name was "John Bogle" and your verification number was "96", it would now become "John Bogle-96". If your name and the number do not fit in the field, shorten the end of your name so that the dash and the number fit.
Now you can go and start a new Non-Championship Session (If load a saved game, you wont be using the verification number in your name, so you must start a new session) and complete both your qualifying and race sessions. Once you finish, you must go and submit via the normal Results Form.
If you have submitted your race within the deadline, then in the results you will be marked as having driven in a time-limited race, to distinguish you from other drivers. While there are no separate standings for time-limited drivers, there may be unofficial ones created, but the main purpose is to provide people with a fun, exciting alternative to racing where you are really under pressure to get your race finished on time :)
Races submitted after the Time-Limited deadline has run out are accepted as regular results. You can only request the Verification Number once per LFRS Race. Additionally, after requesting a number, you can submit once per race. So be careful with the Submit button here and press it only if you know what you're doing.

Race Results and Point Standings:
The race results and point standing's will be posted as soon as possible after the deadline. Due to the size of the results, they will only be posted on the web page. (check out the Results and Verification pages.) Disqualification and file verification info will be given on LFRS-Admin.

Results Verification

Here are the final rules for verification:
  1. ALL drivers MUST save their qualifying hotlap, fastest race lap and saved race game (which is saved just after you cross the start/finish line).
  2. Any driver who finished in the top 5 (plus any other randomly selected drivers) MUST upload their files to http://www.lfrs.com/hotlaps/submit.html. Drivers who were disqualified should also send their files if they want to undo their disqualification. Check the file requests to see if you have to upload your files.
  3. Saved files MUST be named in the following way:

  4. - First character is class name (A through F)
    - Next 4 characters are your driver number
    - Next character is Q for qualifying or R for race file
    - Use the extension given by GP2. (eg. HLx or RAx)

    So if you were driver #3212 and you were racing in Monaco in Class C, your files would be named C3212Q.HLD for qualifying hotlap, C3212R.HLD for race fastlap and C3212R.RAD for the saved racegame.

  5. All 3 files MUST be sent in ZIP format. The upload form will only accept ZIP files containing the three files in the above format. If you do not have a ZIP compression utility, see the utilities page.
  6. All files MUST be in the Hotlap Archive within 7 days of the deadline. All drivers required to upload their files are shown on the file requests page (and on the LFRS-Admin mailing list), so if you are there, just upload your files. If your files are not in the Hotlap Archive within one week of the deadline, you will be disqualified. So if you want to be sure your files are in the Archive before deadline, don't wait too long to upload them. Also, if some of your files went corrupt, you will have enough time to resend them, a week is a long time. Keep the following in mind: DON'T WAIT TOO LONG! Remember, it's you who wants them to be published.

  7. NOTE: If you have problems with the upload form please contact us and we will help to upload your files. *** Please DO NOT mail us your files unless we ask you to. ***
  8. The Results Verification Director (RVD) is Gunther Otto. The RVD and his team are responsible for the verification process. After having checked all files uploaded to the Archive (about 200 files per race!), he will report to the directors and then the final results will posted. The new results will be published as soon as possible.
  9. Files in the Hotlap Archive are there for public viewing, so feel free to look at any of the files. If you find anything that looks suspicious, e-mail Gunther at spooky72@gmx.net with your concern. DO NOT mail LFRS-Talk with allegations of cheating!

The Championships

The World Drivers Championship:

Each division will have it's own World Champion. Points will be awarded on the following fixed-point system:
 

 
1st
35.00
26th
1.30
51st
0.60
76th
0.30
101st+
0.05
2nd
31.00
27th
1.20
52nd
0.60
77th
0.30
   
3rd
27.00
28th
1.10
53rd
0.60
78th
0.30
   
4th
24.00
29th
1.00
54th
0.60
79th
0.30
   
5th
21.00
30th
1.00
55th
0.60
80th
0.30
   
6th
18.00
31st
1.00
56th
0.50
81st
0.25
   
7th
16.00
32nd
1.00
57th
0.50
82nd
0.25
   
8th
14.00
33rd
1.00
58th
0.50
83rd
0.25
   
9th
12.00
34th
1.00
59th
0.50
84th
0.25
   
10th
10.00
35th
1.00
60th
0.50
85th
0.25
   
11th
9.00
36th
0.90
61st
0.45
86th
0.20
   
12th
8.00
37th
0.90
62nd
0.45
87th
0.20
   
13th
7.00
38th
0.90
63rd
0.45
88th
0.20
   
14th
6.00
39th
0.90
64th
0.45
89th
0.20
   
15th
5.00
40th
0.90
65th
0.45
90th
0.20
   
16th
4.50
41st
0.80
66th
0.40
91st
0.15
   
17th
4.00
42nd
0.80
67th
0.40
92nd
0.15
   
18th
3.50
43rd
0.80
68th
0.40
93rd
0.15
   
19th
3.00
44th
0.80
69th
0.40
94th
0.15
   
20th
2.50
45th
0.80
70th
0.40
95th
0.15
   
21st
2.25
46th
0.70
71st
0.35
96th
0.10
   
22nd
2.00
47th
0.70
72nd
0.35
97th
0.10
   
23rd
1.75
48th
0.70
73rd
0.35
98th
0.10
   
24th
1.50
49th
0.70
74th
0.35
99th
0.10
   
25th
1.40
50th
0.70
75th
0.35
100th
0.10
   

The World Fastlap Championship:
Each division will have it's own Fastlap Champion. The Fastlap Title is meant to award the driver who turns the fastest qualifying and race laps during the season. The driver turning the fastest lap in a session receives maximum points, while the rest of the drivers score points based on the percentage of their lap speed compared to the top lap speed, down to a cutoff point.

Essentially, it's like the 107% rule in real F1 qualifying, if you make it in the required percentage of the top speed, then you score points. If you're outside the required percentage, then you don't score points.

Qualifying - Maximum points is 40, with the cut off at .07 (93% of speed, 107.53% of time).

Race Laps - Maximum points is 20, with the cut off at .08 (92% of speed, 108.70% of time).

The World Constructors Championship:
Each division will have it's own Team Championship. Points will be awarded based on the sum of the points the team's top two drivers scored in each race. Only two cars per team per division per race will count towards this championship.

The Overall Teams Championship:
There will be an Overall Teams Championship. Points will be awarded based on the sum of the points accumulated by a team in each division, with 100% of points from Classes A, B, C and D counted, 50% of points gained in Class E, and 25% of points gained in Class F counting towards the Overall Team Championship.

Rule Changes and Most Importantly

Rule Changes:
Rules may change at any time for the good of the series. Unless otherwise stated, rule changes take effect immediately after being posted.

Most Importantly:
The most important part of LFRS is that you have fun. Yes, it's good to win, but don't make that goal so important that the series becomes more like work than fun. There is no prize for winning a pole, a race, or the championship, except the gratification that you did your best and you came out on top.

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