Following a success of 1st Blackwood Licence Upgrade Race (BLUR) in SRT's server, we have decided to organize another similar single event! This event, which will be driven on a different demo combo, is open to everyone!

In this race, any (non-S3 licenced) user can win a free licence upgrade!

Basic information:
When? March 8th, 2024 (Friday)
Where? Server is Sport Racing Team DEMO.
How to join? You can join in that server by clicking this link.

Track? Blackwood RallyCross (BL3)
Car? XF GTI and XR GT (XFG+XRG)
Race length? 90 minutes + 1 lap (we will use Airio !len to get that race length)
Pit stops? 2 mandatory stops
Wind? Low wind (4-24km/h)

Schedule:
Schedule has changed slightly in comparison to previous BLUR. There was some confusion during qualifying, particularly in that who will be bumped out of the race. For that reason, we will have 3 qualifying sessions: Regular Qualifying, Last Chance Qualifying and RallyCross Fast Six. Because we will need to create a grid in the lobby afterwards, Warm-Up will be now between qualifying and race.

(All times are in Finnish time, UTC+2)
Practice sessions:
- Unofficial Free Practice: Until March 8th 2024, 15:40 UTC+2
- Practice 1: 15:45 - 16:55 (no wind)

Qualifying related sessions:
- Practice 2: 17:00 - 17:45 (with wind, wind here determines wind being used in Qualifying)
- Regular Qualifying: 17:50 - 18:20
- Last Chance Qualifying: 18:25 - 18:45 (random low wind)
- RallyCross Fast Six: 18:50 - 19:10 (random low wind)

Race related sessions:
- Warm-Up: 19:15 - 19:45 (with wind, wind here determines wind being used in Race)
- Race Preparation: 19:45 - 20:00 (in the lobby)
- Race: 20:00 - 21:30 (approx.)

Prize Structure:
In Qualifying:
Pole Position: £6 voucher
Best non-S3 licenced user: £6 voucher
Last Qualifier: £3 voucher

In the Race:
1st Place: £12 voucher (guaranteed free licence upgrade)
2nd Place: £6 voucher
3rd Place: £3 voucher
Best non-S3 licenced user: £12 voucher (guaranteed free licence upgrade)

You can also stack these prizes! In other words, if you don't have a S3-licence and get a pole position, you have already won a £12 voucher (because you get £6 from pole position AND £6 from being a best non-S3 licenced user in qualifying) meaning you have already won a free licence upgrade!

So, if you are a non-S3 licenced user and you get a pole position and win this race, you will win a £36 voucher, meaning if you are a demo user, you win a free licence upgrade straight to S3!

And of course, this event is also open to S3-licenced users because they can still win those vouchers that they can use on this site. But because there are prizes for non-S3 licenced users as well, no matter what, at least one non-S3 licenced user wins a free licence upgrade! (And if a non-S3 licenced user gets a pole position, there is a possibility two different users win that free licence upgrade!)

Even though this event is open for everyone, remember that Rules of Clean Racing do apply! (https://en.lfsmanual.net/wiki/Rules_of_Clean_Racing)

Questions:
Question: So, how does qualifying work now?
Qualifying has been split into three parts, each of them separated by 5 minute break. The issue with demo servers is that even though up to 15 people can connect to server, only 12 drivers can be on track. This means that two slowest drivers will be bumped out (since that trick, which was even featured in Airio Full, called Multi-Join doesn't seem to work in newest versions of LFS anymore).

Regular Qualifying:

First part is regular qualifying that lasts 30 minutes. Practice 2 session before it will determine the approximate wind speed used in qualifying. Here's how it works: 7th and 8th fastest drivers (on a server) will start the race in those positions. However, drivers on positions 9th to 14th will move on to Last Chance Qualifying while drivers on positions 1st to 6th will move on to RallyCross Fast Six!

Last Chance Qualifying:

Second session is called Last Chance Qualifying. Here, wind will be random low wind. Drivers who participate in this event are ones who placed 9th to 14th on Regular Qualifying. In this session, each driver drives alone on track. We will start from 14th qualifier, after they have driven, 13th qualifier drives and so on. Because this session lasts 20 minutes, each driver gets 3 minutes and 20 seconds of track time, which is enough for doing an outlap and 1 timed lap, but not another one!

Because WR in BL3+XFG/XRG is over 1:08, driver has about a minute to exit from pitlane (in other words, a little over 2 minutes to complete their outlap).

To prevent any attempts of sabotaging, I will ensure that only 2 cars are allowed to be on the track at the same time (if necessary, I'm being one of them). Additionally, I've created a system, in how drivers will have their turn:
- 14th qualifier: 20:00 remaining (Last Chance Qualifying starts)
- 13th qualifier: 16:40 remaining (14th will be spectated at this point)
- 12th qualifier: 13:20 remaining (13th will be spectated at this point)
- 11th qualifier: 10:00 remaining (12th will be spectated at this point)
- 10th qualifier: 06:40 remaining (11th will be spectated at this point)
- 9th qualifier: 03:20 remaining (10th will be spectated at this point)

Each qualifier will be spectated immediately, which means they cannot finish their current lap. This guarantees each driver only gets one outlap and one timed lap. This session determines start positions from 9th to 12th in the race.

And here's a thing: while fastest driver on Last Chance Qualifying gets to start from the 3rd row (alongside 7th and 8th) in the race, two slowest drivers will be bumped out of this race! But there is also a small prize in this session: last qualifier (to prevent confusion, it means 4th/slowest driver not bumped in this session) in Last Chance Qualifying wins a £3 voucher!

Are you willing to take a risk of being bumped out while trying to win a £3?

Another reason why we have a £3 voucher in this is because previously it was nearly impossible to win any kind of licence for finishing 3rd. With this, it is possible to upgrade from Demo to S1 by finishing 4th in Last Chance Qualifying and finishing 3rd in a race, if you are coming from a country, where licence costs £6/12/18.

RallyCross Fast Six:

After Last Chance Qualifying, we will have RallyCross Fast Six, where top-6 drivers from Regular Qualifying will participate. Rules are same as in Last Chance Qualifying, except of course no one will be bumped, and £6 vouchers are awarded to both driver taking a pole position and best non-S3 user. This session determines start positions from 1st to 6th for the race.

Question: What happens after all qualifying sessions have ended?
Answer: We will have 30-minute Warm-Up session, where wind in that session determines approximate wind being used in the race. Warm-Up session is also essential in a situation someone from the top-12 has to leave the event. In that case, 13th fastest takes their spot.

After Warm-Up has finished, we will return to the lobby for (approximately) 15 minutes. In the lobby, we will create the grid.

Question: What are possible wind speeds?
Because wind used here will be Low Wind, possible wind speeds being used are:
- 4-9km/h
- 10-14km/h
- 15-19km/h
- 20-24km/h

Question: Do I need to make sure anything else?
Answer: Yes, you need to make sure I can contact you privately here in LFS Forum in case you do win a prize. To do that, go to: https://www.lfs.net/account/settings and check "Allow people to send you messages on this website". With that, I can send you that Voucher code you can use here! In case I'm unable to contact you because of that, I will instead send those codes to the next placed user!

You also need to drive at least 80% of the race winners' lap amount and have both those mandatory pit stops completed in order to be classified in the race. You don't need to do anything during pit stops, just making a pit stop is enough.

Because of that, mid-race joining is allowed for first 20% of the race, but after 18 minutes have been driven, it will be disallowed.

Question: So I am a non-S3 licenced user, what licence upgrade possibilities I can have in this event?
Answer: It depends on how much licence costs in your country?

If licence costs £6/12/18 and want to ensure you can...

...upgrade your licence by one stage (from Demo to S1, S1 to S2 or S2 to S3)
1) Be a best placed non-S3 licenced user in Qualifying OR
2) Finish second in the race while a non-S3 licenced user wins OR
3) Be a last qualifier (4th in Last Chance Qualifying) AND finish third in the race while 1st or 2nd place finisher is non-S3 licenced user.

...upgrade your licence by two stages (from Demo to S2 or S1 to S3)
1) Get a pole position in Qualifying OR
2) Be a best-placed non-S3 licenced user in Race OR
3) (Very unlikely, but still possible) Be a last qualifier (4th in Last Chance Qualifying) while all 11 drivers ahead of you in qualifying already have S3-licence AND finish third in the race, while 1st or 2nd place finisher is non-S3 licenced user

...upgrade your licence by three stages (from Demo to S3):
1) Get a pole position in Qualifying AND finish second in the race while a non-S3 licenced user wins OR
2) Finish second in the race while a S3-licenced user wins OR
3) Be a last qualifier (4th in Last Chance Qualifying) AND finish third in the race while 1st and 2nd place finishers both already have S3.

If licence costs £9/18/27 and want to ensure you can...

...upgrade your licence by one stage (from Demo to S1, S1 to S2 or S2 to S3)
1) (Very unlikely, but still possible) Be a last qualifier (4th in Last Chance Qualifying) while all 11 drivers ahead of you in qualifying already have S3-licence OR
2) Be a best placed non-S3 licenced user in qualifying while S3-licenced user takes pole position AND finish 3rd in the race, while 1st or 2nd place finisher is non-S3 licenced user OR
3) Be a last qualifier (4th in Last Chance Qualifying) AND finish second in the race while a non-S3 licenced user wins

...upgrade your licence by two stages (from Demo to S2 or S1 to S3)
1) (Very unlikely, but still possible) Be a last qualifier (4th in Last Chance Qualifying) while all 11 drivers ahead of you in qualifying already have S3-licence AND finish third in the race while being best non-S3 licenced user OR
2) Get a pole position in Qualifying AND finish second in the race while a non-S3 licenced user wins OR
3) Finish second in the race while a S3-licenced user wins OR
4) Be a last qualifier (4th in Last Chance Qualifying) AND finish third in the race while 1st and 2nd place finishers both already have S3.

...upgrade your licence by three stages (from Demo to S3):
1) Get a pole position in Qualifying AND finish second in the race while a non-S3 licenced user wins OR
2) Be a last qualifier (4th in Last Chance Qualifying) AND win the race

If licence costs £12/24/36 and want to ensure you can...

...upgrade your licence by one stage (from Demo to S1, S1 to S2 or S2 to S3)
1) Get a pole position in qualifying OR
2) Be a best placed non-S3 licenced user in race
3) Be a best placed non-S3 licenced user in Qualifying AND finish second in the race while non-S3 licenced user wins OR
4) (Very unlikely, but still possible) Be a last qualifier (4th in Last Chance Qualifying) while all 11 drivers ahead of you in qualifying already have S3-licence AND finish third in the race, while 1st or 2nd place finisher is non-S3 licenced user

...upgrade your licence by two stages (from Demo to S2 or S1 to S3)
1) Get a pole position in Qualifying AND be a best placed non-S3 licenced user in the race (position doesn't matter)

...upgrade your licence by three stages (from Demo to S3):
1) Get a pole position in Qualifying AND win that race

Question: Is server open to free practice?
Answer: Yes! However, as noted in previous BLUR, there is a possibility, where someone will crash deliberately to others.

In order to prevent this happening in the event itself, I have done a three strike system: "Three strikes and you're out". This means that if someone deliberately crashes to someone during free practice:
1) They first get a warning.
2) If they continue doing that, I kick them out of the server.
3) And if they still continue it, I give them a small ban. It's a small ban, but just long enough to ensure they will miss this event!

Remember that this server (and SRT's main server Sport Racing Team Finland) save every multiplayer replay, so I can always download any replay afterwards.

And of course, this pretty much only applies to deliberately crashing. Considering these are free practice sessions, speeding in the pitlane, (clear) racing incidents etc. of course don't really matter in these type of sessions.

Exception to this are speed hackers, which I ban immediately for 999 days.

Question: In case Airio or its !len command doesn't work, do you have a backup plan?
Answer: Yes. Race length will almost certainly be under 100 laps, so in case it fails, I'll just have race length be 2 hours and when 90 minutes have passed, I'll change race length to make sure race will end after next lap.

Question: I already have S1 or S2-licence or I'm from country where they cost less. Do I have to spend that whole prize money for myself?
Answer: Good thing about prize moneys in this event is that I don't care how you spend it. You can spend it to download Hi-Res skins in-game or use that premium PubStat access, I don't care.

While a demo user almost certainly wants to spend vast majority of that voucher to that licence upgrade, there is always a possibility that they still have some balance left after upgrading their licence. Which is a cool thing, because if they have a friend or teammate who also needs a licence upgrade, they can spend rest of that voucher to ensure that user also gets a licence upgrade! (Though not necessarily that significant licence upgrade)

Additional questions:
Question: Is car reset allowed? If it is, in what sessions?
Answer: It is allowed in Unofficial Free Practice, Practice 1 and Practice 2 sessions. When Regular Qualifying starts, it will be disallowed.

Question: During Warm-Up, what if results from that sessions match exactly the starting grid? Do we still need to return to the lobby?
Answer: In that rare situation, where Warm-Up positions are exactly same than what starting grid for the race, then yeah, we don't need to return to lobby.

I'm not sure yet, will Warm-Up session actually be race session that lasts 30 minutes + 1 lap. More likely though, it will be a "qualifying" session.

Question: What is the maximum amount of users that can upgrade their licence?
Answer: There is not a definite answer to that, because it depends on the country where users are from. In some countries, licences are cheaper.

However, we can assure at least following users win a guaranteed free licence upgrade:
- Best non-S3 licenced user in the race

Additoinally, these drivers also win a guaranteed free licence upgrade:
- Driver who takes pole position in qualifying and doesn't have S3.

And, if you are from country, where licence costs £6/12/18, these users also win a guaranteed free licence upgrade:
- Driver who finishes second
- Driver who qualifies last and finishes third

So, in normal conditions, up to 2 drivers can win a free licence, but if licence costs less, it's possible to increase that amount up to 4. But, there is always a possibility that race winner (and driver who takes pole position) may use that voucher to buy multiple licences.

So for that reason, the absolute maximum amount of users who can upgrade their licences is 8!

How we can get that number? First of all, all those drivers who get that licence upgrade must come from country where licence costs £6/12/18
- Driver, who wins (and doesn't have S3) a race. That driver earns £24 voucher, allowing them to buy 4 S1-licences
- Driver, who takes pole position (and doesn't have S3). That driver earns £12 voucher, allowing them to buy 2 S1-licences
- Driver, who finishes second in the race. That driver earns £6 voucher, allowing them to buy 1 S1-licence.
- Driver who qualifies last (is 4th in Last Chance Qualifying) and finishes third in the race. That driver earns £6 voucher, allowing them to buy 1 S1-licence.

But since it's possible that drivers who win those vouchers want to upgrade their licence straight to highest possible, it can reduce the amount of users winning a free licence upgrade. In that case, amount of users would be 5 (assuming it costs £6/12/18)!

- Driver, who wins (and doesn't have S3) a race. That driver earns £24 voucher, allowing them to buy 1 S3- and 1 S1-licence. (Or alternatively, two S2-licences or, if they also take a pole position, 2 S3-licences)
- Driver, who takes pole position (and doesn't have S3). That driver earns £12 voucher, allowing them to buy 1 S2-licence
- Driver, who finishes second in the race. That driver earns £6 voucher, allowing them to buy 1 S1-licence.
- Driver who qualifies last (is 4th in Last Chance Qualifying) and finishes third in the race. That driver earns £6 voucher, allowing them to buy 1 S1-licence.

And of course, one user's licence may cost more or they would use that whole voucher for themselves, which would reduce amount of users winning free licence upgrade even more!

Question: What is that "multi-join" timer?
Answer: http://31.6.70.158/aa/airio-doc/Airio%20LFS%20Tracker%20-%20Full%20Version%20Manual.html

You can search "Multi-Join Timer" from that page. Basically, in LFS Demo, up to 12 drivers are allowed to be on track, even though maximum amount of connections is 15. However, in older versions of LFS, if there were 11 drivers on track and 2-4 drivers joined at approximately same time, LFS did let them all join, allowing 13-15 drivers on track. This feature was even added into Airio Full where using this exploit was made easier by having a timer on server telling demo users to join the track.

However, it doesn't seem to work anymore.

Warm-Up Event
Because I want to test, that this new qualifying system and Airio's !len command really works, we will have a Warm-Up event today! I don't want to call this "Test Event", because in this event, you can still win a free licence upgrade!

Rules are same than those I mentioned in the first post, except, cars have now 20% intake restriction, race itself is shorter and prizes are somewhat reduced - but not by that much at least someone could win a free licence upgrade!

Basic information:
When? Today! February 3rd Saturday!
Where? Server is Sport Racing Team DEMO.
How to join? You can join in that server by clicking this link.

Track? Blackwood RallyCross (BL3)
Car? XFX and XRX (XF GTI (XFG) and XR GT (XRG) with 20% intake restriction)
Race length? 50 minutes + 1 lap (we will use Airio !len to get that race length)
Pit stops? 1 mandatory stop
Wind? Low wind (4-24km/h)

Schedule:

(All times are in Finnish time, UTC+2)
Practice sessions:
- Unofficial Free Practice: Until February 3rd 2024, 15:40 UTC+2
- Practice 1: 15:45 - 16:55 (no wind)

Qualifying related sessions:
- Practice 2: 17:00 - 17:45 (with wind, wind here determines wind being used in Qualifying)
- Regular Qualifying: 17:50 - 18:20
- Last Chance Qualifying: 18:25 - 18:45 (random low wind)
- RallyCross Fast Six: 18:50 - 19:10 (random low wind)

Race related sessions:
- Warm-Up: 19:15 - 19:45 (with wind, wind here determines wind being used in Race)
- Race Preparation: 19:45 - 20:00 (in the lobby)
- Race: 20:00 - 20:50 (approx.)

Prize Structure:
In Qualifying:
Pole Position: £3 voucher
Best non-S3 licenced user: £3 voucher
Last Qualifier: £3 voucher

In the Race:
1st Place: £9 voucher
2nd Place: £6 voucher
3rd Place: £3 voucher
Best non-S3 licenced user: £9 voucher

This means that you can win a guaranteed free licence upgrade by simply being a best non-S3 licensed user both in qualifying and race. Or taking a pole position and finishing a second in the race also guarantees you that!

And of course, if in your country licences are cheaper, there are more ways to upgrade your licence for free (for example, if licence costs £6/12/18, you can get S1 by finishing third and being last qualifier in the race).

Additional questions:
Question: How do I make sure I have 20% intake restriction?
Answer:
1) Make sure you don't use default setups, you need to create own setups for tihs.

2) In the Garage, in Info-section, you see "Handicaps". Immediately below it, there is a "Voluntary Intake Restriction". Make sure to put it at least to 20%. You don't need to add mass.

3) Join. To make sure you have correct setup, press F11 to see your handicaps. Additionally, Airio will tell your custom car is XFX (if you are driving with XF GTI) or XRX (if you are driving with XR GT)

Question: What about tires/passengers?
Answer: Since this is RallyCross-track, only Hybrid and Knobbly-tires are allowed. For passengers, passengers are allowed, but if you are having other passengers than co-driver, you get a warning of having unnecessary passengers in your car.

i lost s3

So, Warm-Up event has been wrapped up!

Following users won vouchers:

- KitteNN won a £12 voucher for being best non-S3 user both in qualifying (£3 voucher) and race (£9 voucher). Because licences in their country costs £6/12/18, they were able to buy S2-licence with that voucher! In other words, welcome to the Live for Speed S2, KitteNN!

- SirBo won a £9 voucher for winning the race (they already had S3). Because licences in their country costs £6/12/18, who knows if they will buy an S1-licence to their friend or teammate who still doesn't have one?

- Murtagh won a £6 voucher for taking a pole position in qualifying (£3 voucher) and finishing third in the race (£3 voucher). Since licences in their country costs £9/18/27, they can still buy a licence for a friend or teammate who lives in a country, where licences cost £6/18/27. Who knows, will they use that voucher on themselves to buy some premium features in LFS?

- Jeikobinis won a £6 voucher for finishing second in the race (they already had S3). Because licences in their country costs £6/12/18, who knows if they will buy an S1-licence to their friend or teammate who still doesn't have one?

And finally:

- Tryingtosimrace_69 won a £3 voucher for being last qualifier (finishing 4th in Last Chance Qualifying). They can't buy a licence with that voucher itself, but they can some premium features with that voucher. Who knows, will they spend that voucher to download 3000 Hi-Res skins?

In any case, congratulations to all winners! And thank you so much to all participants!

But, as I said, this was just Warm-Up event. The main event is held on Friday, March 8th, 2024!

So, Main event is over!

Following users won vouchers:

- KitteNN won a £36 voucher for taking a pole position and win while being non-S3 user. Because licences in their country costs £6/12/18, they were able to upgarde their S2-licence to S3 with just £6! Who knows how they use rest of that £30 voucher. In any case, welcome to the Live for Speed S3, KitteNN!

- HeRRC won a £6 voucher for finishing second in the race. Because they already have S3, it will remain as a mystery, how they will spend that voucher.

- ErnestRacer won a £3 voucher for finishing third in the race. Since that itself is not enough to buy licence, we will not know yet, how they will spend that voucher.

And finally:

- Cuneyto won a £3 voucher for being last qualifier (finishing 4th in Last Chance Qualifying). They can't buy a licence with that voucher itself, but they can some premium features with that voucher. Who knows, will they spend that voucher to download 3000 Hi-Res skins?