Overview

The NARA (No Assists Racing Alliance) UFR Challenge is a fun and competitive championship series designed to enhance the racing realism in Live For Speed, with a season of 12 rounds, consisting of 9 multiple race sprint rounds and 3 single race endurance rounds, bringing together the world’s elite No Assist (NARA) drivers from every corner of the globe, competing in a single car class; the UF1 GTR (UFR).

The main theory behind the NARA UFR Challenge is to make a completely level playing field in which the only advantage any driver can have is raw skill and racing prowess. To ensure that the ‘elite class’ of drivers don’t run away with the championship, leaving only slim pickings for the slower drivers, a few non-traditional rules have been implied, as follows:

Weight Penalties: The podium finishers of each round will incur weight penalty to carry into all proceeding rounds of the championship. A variation of this rule has been very successfully implemented and proven to even out a racing field in competitions such as the John Cooper Mini Challenge in the UK and Australia. This penalty will have more significant effects on some tracks than others, thus providing an unpredictable season and exciting championship battles.

Intake Restrictions: The pole sitter of each round will have a small intake restriction penalty to carry into all proceeding rounds of the championship. Drivers will not be penalised at the event in which they secure the pole position, only every round following. Again, this penalty will have more significant effects on some tracks than others.






Points System
For each race, Championship points will be awarded on the following scale:
















Wild Cards & Mid-Season Entries
All drivers wishing to compete in the championship season must make an entry to a NARA representative before the Qualifying session of Round 1. Mid-season entries will be accepted with the condition that the driver in question carries a 10kg weight penalty and 1% intake restriction during their first round event. All rounds following they are free to compete without the penalty (unless they secure pole position, and win the race, in which case the penalty will be automatically implied). This rule is only in place for the security and fairness of all full-season drivers.

NARA is a friendly, fun based (theory) organisation, we are accepting of all skill levels and do not put pressure on people to be fast for recognition or acceptance, however we do not take kindly to misbehaviour and inappropriate purposeful harm. Any wild cards seen to be a nuisance will be asked to behave or leave then be kicked or banned, and if you’re lucky – in that order.




Awards & Sub-Competitions
The NARA UFR Competition isn’t just about winning races, bonus points will be awarded at the end of the season for various achievements.

Flash Gordon Award: Awarded to the driver with the most fastest laps in the season. Value: 50 points.

Leader of the Gang Award: Awarded to the driver holding the most amount of Pole Positions. Value: 50 points.

Indestructible Award: Awarded to the driver who finishes the most amount of races.
Value: 100 points.

Needle and Thread Award: Awarded to the driver who has the highest positive difference between qualifying position and final race standings over a racing season. (Eg. QUAL: 12th, FIN: 5th = +7) Value: 100 points.

Encouragement Award: Awarded to each driver who has a best race finish of 6th or lower. Value: 100 points.

Fat Donkey Award: Awarded to the driver who has the heaviest and lowest powered car by the end of the season. Value: 50 points. (Only penalties incurred from wins and poles will be valid)


To be eligible for awards, drivers must compete in a minimum of 9 races in the season.



Race Events

Qualifying
All competing drivers have 60min to set their fastest possible lap with any setup they wish to use. Note that all drivers carrying a penalty from previous rounds must have these enabled to be eligible for qualifying. These will be checked by the host during and after (via replay) the qualification round.

Post Qualify – Parc Ferme
When the qualifying session has come to a close, all drivers will be required to leave the pits and park at the end of the pit lane in qualifying order, with their race setups loaded. Note, once you leave the pit garage you must not pit again before the race. This procedure will be equal to that of Parc Ferme conditions, and is used to ensure that all drivers competing have the required intake restrictions and weight penalties applied to their car. Any driver found to be in breach of this rule will be forced to start from the race from pit lane.

Race
Sprint races will be equal to a race distance of 50km, endurance events 120km. In the example of Blackwood Raceway (3.307km), a sprint race will be 15laps, an endurance race will be 36laps.



On Track Incidents
When racing close and hard there will always be the odd nudge from behind. Most of the time this causes no damage to either car and the driver in front is usually able to continue on without any loss. This will happen and is usually not a problem.

All contact between two or more parties must be acknowledged and communicated at the time of the incident. This can be as simple as a from both parties to ensure that everything is okay and has been interpreted as a racing incident. Unfortunately sometimes lag will occur, NARA will not take action against the odd lagging incident, these things happen, and generally they are not the fault of the driver, however NARA does insist that during races you secure a dedicated service and that LFS and Teamspeak are the only programs you have connected.

If contact goes without being communicated both parties lose their right to appeal the incident post-race.

If a driver feels they have been unfairly forced off track, or crashed into, he or she are encouraged to type INVESTIGATE for post-race investigation. We recommend drivers make use of the CTRL+F1 through F12 presets for such messages. Such investigations will be communicated between all parties involved and nominated NARA representatives and a decision will be made by NARA representatives prior to the following race. Should a NARA member be involved in an incident, he or she will be ineligible to have any vote in the final decision, for all fairness of drivers involved.

Penalties may vary depending on the severity of the incident, from a 10 or 25sec time penalty added to final race position, to a weight or intake penalty to carry for the following race, or being stripped of any race points acquired in the race in question.





Penalties
Weight Penalties: Weight penalties will be given to the top three round finishers; 1st – 10kg, 2nd – 7kg, 3rd – 4kg. These penalties are added to each previous penalties applied, eg. 3 race wins = 30kg penalty.

Intake Restrictions: A 1% intake restriction will be given to each driver who qualifies on Pole Position. The restriction is only applied for the following round and thereafter. These penalties are added to each previous penalties applied, eg. 3 poles = 3% penalty.

At the end of round 6, each driver who started the season at round 1 will be given the opportunity to nominate one of the following 6 rounds to temporarily drop all penalties they have accumulated at the current time. Any penalties incurred between the rounds are invalid for the temporary drop.

In some occurrences, weight and intake penalties will be given to a driver seen to have performed some form of unsportsmanlike behavior. These penalties are only given for the race following, and are dropped thereafter. This will only be used in an extreme case where time or point penalties have no impact on the driver.





All drivers will be respected regardless of speed or skill. We all work together to ensure the racing is fair and enjoyable for all participants. NARA standard rules will automatically be applied by the server, these include H-Pattern gearboxes, clutch pedals and in-car view as being a must have. We apologise to all racers who don’t meet these requirements, we cannot cater for all wants and needs.




Kind regards,
NARA Management.

I have attached some simple skin files that have been worked on in collaboration with Pearce. These skins are base skins free for personal use or use with the NARA UFR Series, I am providing them solely with the intention that someone brings a little colour to the grid. Many of us have already used this simple design to create our own skins, the examples.jpg is just some of them. You may add your own sponsors, logos, number and name decals.

NARA_UFR_Challenge_Skins.zip = jpegs with different base colours for people without photoshop.

NARA_UFR_psd.zip = layered photoshop file.

The green and yellow boards on the rear of the car are penalty notifiers. Green for weight, and yellow for intake. These are just a trial, and at the moment not mandatory, however some of us may choose to use these and update the information on them for each round. The information is simply just the number that corresponds to the penalty, eg. 16kg = 16 on green board.