Rules for the Internet Formula One Grand Prix Championship


V3.0, 01-Oct-2000, by Markus Kruggel & Oliver Roberts

Thanks to James Smith whose rules for the IAF1GPC are still the base of this new version)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction


1.1 Just what is this anyway and how does it work?

The "Internet Amiga Formula One Grand Prix Championship" (or IAF1GPC for short) is is a competition run for players of the Amiga version of Formula One Grand Prix (or World Circuit), competing against each other over a full championship season. Each race of the season is spread over two weeks: Qualifying in week 1 and racing in week 2. After the first week all the qualifiying results should be e-mailed to the adminstrator where they will be tabulated and posted to the amigaf1gp mailing list. The next week everyone races that race and e-mails their times to the administrator. The fastest overall race time wins.

1.2 How do I take part?

The basic requirements are that you have an Amiga computer (any model will do), the F1GP (or WC) game published by MicroProse Software and an add-on for the game called F1GP-Ed. Obviously, you'll also need access to an Internet e-mail account. All competitors should subscribe to the mailing list which is the primary source of all material related to the championship. Once you've done that make sure you read and understand the rules. That's all it takes really. All you need to do now is to make sure you complete the specified races and submit your results (by e-mail) before the respective deadlines. Results will be posted to the mailing list shortly after each deadline.

2. General Rules for all classes


2.1 Conduct

Please play fair. Not all of the rules can be enforced 100%

Whatever is legal in the game is not always legal while racing in the championship. In other words, don't cut corners by leaping over the grass like a mad gazelle and don't go around intentionally ramming the computer cars off the track. It's not very sporting.

There are no entrants fees, the championship is run for free. Hence there are also no prizes. This championship is purely for fun. But keep in mind that you're using F1GP-ED, a shareware product. (Be aware: If people use pirated versions of F1GP-ED I will throw them out of championship!)

2.2 Technical Aspects

2.2.1 Hardware

Any machine type (A500, A1000, A1200,..., A4000) is allowed. Any rebadged Amigas (like MicroniK infinitiv) are allowed, too. For now, running F1GP on top of an Amiga emulator (like UAE) is not allowed to compete in the championship. However, results achieved with F1GP on an Amiga emulator, following this set of rules, may be submitted for comparison.

Any hardware configuration of your Amiga is allowed. This includes accelerator boards, GFX boards and so on.

Any control device (keyboard, analog/digital joystick, steering wheel, ...) is allowed.

2.2.2 F1GP-Ed

Each participant must use a legal copy of Oliver Roberts' F1GP-Ed v3.xx. Pirated versions will do strange things to your computer and it is unlikely that you are able to participate in the championship with a cracked version of F1GP-Ed.

2.2.3 The Datafiles

A special F1GP-Ed datafile will be available for each of the two classes before the start of the season. You are not allowed to alter any settings of the datafile as long as they change the behaviour of the computer controlled cars or the game's general behaviour. Especially you are not allowed to change speed factors, risk factors, frame rate, car fragility, cheats and session times.

You are allowed to alter settings that just change the look of the game, i.e. car and helmet designs, palettes, background images and the like.

You are allowed to use patches like PatchF1GP to give buffered buttons, 2 buttons gears, etc, and you are allowed to use the information section of GPPatch to get information that F1 drivers have avalable in their cockpit nowadays but which are missing in F1GP.

Any car control method is allowed. This includes traction control on/off.

You must drive using the default setting of driver no.39 in all sessions.

2.2.4 Other Tools

The usage of Splittime is allowed during all sessions. The usage of AGPPerf is only allowed during qualifying.

You must use AGPLapTime to log your race and qualifying session. Any results submitted without a AGPLapTime logfile will not be considered for the final results and hence cannot score points!

2.3 Teams

Forming teams is allowed and recommended. The benefit of being in a team is to share information with your team mate and to make the championship even more fun.

2.3.1 Changing / joining teams during the season

If a driver changes from one team to another during the season, he/she has to declare it before the qualifying deadline of the race where the change shall take effect. The same applies in case two teams merge to create a new team.

The points of the changing driver will not be carried over in case he/she changes to an already existing team. The respective driver will contribute to the team's score from that race on, where the change takes effect.

In case two teams merge, the team may carry over the points from one of the teams that merge and use this score as the new team's score.

The drivers' scores will remain unaffected in both cases.

2.4 The course of a GP

2.4.1 Qualifying

The first week of each race is qualifying. You should enter a NON-CHAMPIONSHIP RACE for each round of the championship and then complete a 60 minute qualifying period. However, you must not do more than 12 laps in total (with any tyre compound), just like in real life F1. After qualifying you should e-mail your qualifying time and log file to the administrator, and the grid line-up will be mailed the list.

You must use AGPLaptime to log your qualifying session. Send the logfile together with your qualifying time (refer to the How to send your results document for more info about this). This will be used to verify your qualifying time, and whether you stayed within the 12 lap limit.

It's not possible to enter a standard championship season as the race order in the IAF1GPC is different to that in the game.

2.4.2 Race

The next week is the race itself. You should save your game between qualifying and the race, and reload before racing so that you do not need to start at the back (hopefully :-). You can race immediately after qualifying and mail your results in one go if you want, but you won't benefit from seeing everyone else's qualifying times before your race.

You must use AGPLaptime to log your race. Send the logfile together with your race result (refer to the How to send your results document for more info about this).

You must save your game immediately after crossing the finish line. This saved game must be submitted on request to check that no-one is cheating. I don't expect anyone to cheat, but if results are suspect this is the only way you can check your results.

Some races will be declared as wet races. Everyone must race those rounds under wet conditions. This is possible due to Oliver's editor allowing you to set the probability of having a wet race. Therefore whenever a wet race is called you must edit your copy of F1GP to give a 100% chance of having a wet race.

2.4.3 Continuing / Reloading

You may save and continue a qualifying or a race at any time, but you may not reload or restart. You only get one shot at each race.

2.5 Administrativa

2.5.1 Submitting your results

Deadlines will be set to make sure that the championship progresses at a reasonable speed. If you miss a deadline your results may not be included for that race.

Results will be accepted anytime before the relevant deadline.

For the Fidonetters and all of you with similar "problems": be aware that you send your times early enough so that they will reach the admin before the deadline. It is suggested that you change the schedule in a way that you send in your results 2 days before the official deadline. If you follow that schedule you will not lose any time because the intervals between the races remains two weeks.

On more info about the submission of your results, refer to How to submit your results.

2.5.2 The different clasess

Two different classes exist within the IAF1GPC: Ace and Pro. The main difference between the classes are the allowed driving aids, the number of races and the speed of the computer cars:

CLASS
AIDSAcePro
Auto Brakes--
Auto Gears--( "X" = allowed ,"-" = not allowed)
Self Correcting Spin--
Indestructible Mode--
Ideal Line-X
Ideal Gear-X
RACE PARAMS 
Qualifying60min60min
Race Distance100%100%
Races1610

2.5.2.1 Changing class

A driver may change the class he/she competes in at any time of the season. However, points scored in one class cannot be carried over to another class. That means that a driver who changes class has different scores for all the classes he/she competed in. Note that both drivers in a single team must be racing in the same class.

3. Additional Rules


3.1 Rules for Ace class

Ace drivers have to use the "Ace" datafile for F1GP-Ed.

All 16 races count towards the championship.

Teams in the Ace class may comprise of a maximum of two drivers (three car teams were allowed in the 1998/99 season, but not anymore!).

3.2 Rules for Pro class

Pro drivers have to use the "Pro" datafile for F1GP-Ed.

You may drive all 16 races of the season, but only your best 10 results (combined qualifying + race) count towards the championship.

4. Points System


4.1 Positions / Leading Laps / Fastest Lap

4.1.1 Positions

Each driver scores points for the position achieved in qualifying and race applying the following table:
QUALIFYING:
Pos.Points
1st20
2nd16
3rd14
4th12
5th10
6th8
7th6
8th5
9th4
10th3
11th2
12th1
RACE:
Pos.Points
1st180
2nd170
3rd165
4th160
5th155
6th151
7th147
8th143
9th139
10th135
11th132
12th129
13th126
......
(3-point-dropoffs)
......
54th3
55th0
RETIREMENTS:

  • All the points on the left are rewarded for a fully completed race. If a driver retires, the race distance he was able to complete will be taken into account.If somebody crashed out after completing 22 laps at Spa and ends up on 7th place compared to the other competitors, he'll get 50% (22 out of 44 laps) of the 147 points that can usually be scored with a 7th place. The points will always be rounded up to the next full point, so that the driver in the above example will get 73 points for his result.

  • Lapped drivers that finish their race and see the chequered flag, will be treated as if they had completed 100% of the race.

  • A result of 0 laps will be treated as if the driver completed 1 lap.

4.1.2 Leading laps

Any driver who has led at least one lap of the race will score 5 extra points.

4.1.3 Fastest Lap

The driver who achieves the fastest overall lap of a race scores 3 extra points.


Last modified: Friday 09 December 2005 - 22:58