ZakStunts rules for 2023

Changes or additions from 2022 are highlighted in bold.

Basic Rules

If you read this you are ready to race, please read at least once:

Register yourself online. Please use a valid email address, so we can contact you if any problems occur.
Download the current track and race on it with your favourite car.
Use Stunts Broderbund 1.1 version for racing.
You can leave the road or make shortcuts, but beware of penalty time!
Depending on your chosen car you will get bonus/penalty time as a percentage of your finishing time. You can always find the bonus percentages (the amount which will be subtracted from your time) on the cars page, or on the track scoreboard.
Discover and use Stunts' "Replay Handling"! It'll save you a lot of time and improve your results. Learn about it in the Driving School.
When you have completed your lap, save your replay and send it from the web form. Your time will automatically appear on the scoreboard.
You can send as many replays as you want.
Any modification to the car, track or replay is strictly forbidden.
Contact other racers (most of them don't bite :) ) if you want to improve your skills.
The best place for questions and answers is the forum.

Detailed Rules

Read them at your own risk, but don't complain to me if you haven't done it :)

The Rules

Modification of the rules is not likely to happen during the season, and it can occur only after a vote/opinion asked in the forum.
If anything is unclear, ask the race administrator.

The Schedule

The season lasts for one year, and consists of 12 races.
All times and dates on the site are relative to CET / CEST, which is the official time zone of the competition :)
Every track lasts for four weeks and unless announced otherwise, it ends on a Saturday evening. The new track should be available on Sunday. Exact starting and ending dates are always announced on the site.
The last two days of each track are called quiet days. Replays submitted with the "quiet" option will remain hidden until the end of the race.
Track deadline is midnight on the last day of the track. Replays received after that time are invalid.

Replay publicity

A major change from earlier seasons is, that subject to conditions described below, submitted replays are immediately made available for public download. Replays can take the following states:

PUBLISHED - The submitted replay immediately appears on the scoreboard.
NOT PUBLISHED - The submitted replay does not immediately appear on the scoreboard.
ACCESSIBLE - The submitted replay is immediately available for all racers to download.
NOT ACCESSIBLE - The submitted replay is not available for others to download.

Based on the above states, during the course of a race the state of sent replays is set as follows:

Replays sent during the first half of each race (the first two weeks) are PUBLISHED and ACCESSIBLE
Replays sent during the second half of each race (the last two weeks excluding quiet days) are PUBLISHED and NOT ACCESSIBLE.
Replays sent during quiet days are NOT PUBLISHED and NOT ACCESSIBLE.

You may override this behavior to a positive direction (e.g. make your PUBLISHED even when sent during quiet days.)

The System

Every racer should send his own replays using the web form after he has registered.
Rule change, applies from 2023-07-02 (Forum thread) A replay must be a complete lap of the circuit, and should play correctly when loaded in Stunts, from "Options → Load replay". Please verify your replay before uploading it, as unplayable replays will be disqualified. — A replay must be a complete lap of the circuit. Please validate your replay before uploading it, starting from "Options → Load replay". A replay is valid if it shows a non-crash frame when loaded, or if it plays from start to finish at normal speed. Invalid replays will be disqualified.
After checking the replay, the admin can change or delete your submitted result at any time if you have been cheating or violating the rules. Communication will be given in the website shoutbox.
The track scoreboard is always up to date, bar hidden replays during quiet days.
Seasonal scores are refreshed each time a new replay is submitted.
Any form of system abuse results in the banning from the competition.

Teams

It's highly recommended for you to join or form a team. It greatly improves your racing skills, and your motivation to race.

Teams consist of minimum 2, maximum 4 racers.
You can join any team if allowed, but if you joined one, you can't leave it through the year, only with losing all your team points.
When you join a team, and you didn't have one before all your previous results count as the team's too.
If you form a new team, every member must send me a confirmation email, the new team's name, and possibly a team logo.
Team members may share their knowledge or replays, but it's forbidden to race in the name of another teammate, or to use a part of your mate's replay for continuing.
Team members can request a private "team section" on the forum.

Scoring and Bonuses

Scoring follows the table below on each and every track through the whole season:

Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th
Points 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th
Points	12	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1

Racers between the 13th and the 31st place receive fractional points according to the table below:

Position	13th	14th	15th	16th	17th	18th	19th	20th	21st	22nd	23rd	24th
Points	0.95	0.90	0.85	0.80	0.75	0.70	0.65	0.60	0.55	0.50	0.45	0.40
Position	25th	26th	27th	28th	29th	30th	31st	(32nd and further)
Points	0.35	0.30	0.25	0.20	0.15	0.10	0.05	No points

Amateur racers also receive points in the amateur league, in the same way.

Leading Time Bonus (LTB)

The system tracks how long you stay at the top of the scoreboard.

Racers gain +1 bonus point for every 240 hours they hold the first position.
Gained hours carry over to the next race, and count against the 240 threshold.
If a racer gains +1 or more bonus points in a race, they will start with zero hours in the next one.
Leading-time calculation starts on the first day of each race. If the track is available earlier, leading time is not calculated.
Leading-time calculation ends with the start of the quiet days.

Car Coefficients

Your result will always be multiplied by the car's bonus coefficient. A +10% bonus means that if you submit a replay with 1:00.00 driven time (60 seconds), you get a 6 seconds bonus, and the result used to calculate your position will be 60 seconds - 6 seconds = 54 seconds. A negative bonus works in the opposite way, making your actual time worse than your driven time. This system is designed to let slower cars compete with faster cars on the same track. Car coefficients vary over time:

Coefficients do not change while a track is active.
Negative bonuses are also possible.
If a car was not used in a race by drivers finished in the top 6 (in the final classification), its coefficient is raised by +1%.
All the distributed positive bonuses are summed together, and are used to reduce the winning cars' coefficients. The amount is distributed between the winning cars the following way:

Winner car 50%

Second on podium 30%

Third on podium 20%
The designer of the competition track used for each actual race can distribute at most +10 and -10 coefficient points amongst the cars, to adjust the power of the cars to the specific track design. The track designer may also decide not to modify bonuses at all. Assigned points will apply only to the current track.
Extra modifications can be made by the competition manager during the first week of the race, if the balance of the cars is broken. Modifications can't affect the leading position.

Winner car	50%
Second on podium	30%
Third on podium	20%

Seasonal Scoring

Your seasonal score is the sum of the points you earned on the tracks, plus any bonuses.
Your three worst results don't count for the season's final ranking.
In case of a draw, the racer with the most victories / best positions / number of best positions is announced as the winner.

Amateur league

New racers start in the Amateur league, in addition to the main competition.
Amateur scoring matches the global rules, but appears in separate scoreboards.
Racers start with zero "experience points" (XP), and are promoted out of the Amateur league when they reach 10XP
Experience points will be assigned to a racer when they...

Condition	Points
Finish a race in the global first position	10 points
Finish a race in the global 2nd or 3rd position	5 points
Finish a race in the global 4th, 5th, or 6th position	1 points
End a season in the global top 6	3 points
End a season as the Amateur champion	4 points
End a season in the Amateur top 2nd or 3rd position	2 points

Multiple conditions can apply and give points at the same time.
A racer can leave the Amateur league at any time.
A racer can request to re-enter the Amateur league, but the decision is left to the competition manager.