CMS NARS 2024
Virtual Modern Sportscar Championship

As has become the tradition here at NARS, we are very pleased and excited to be running the latest of the Storm Gang Simulation modern sports car mods – the WSC 2024 featuring the IMSA/WEC homologated Hypercars and LMGT3s.

SGS‘s “Smart BOP™” ensures competitive racing within the classes while preserving individual car characteristics to afford drivers plenty of options in choosing a car that fits best with their driving style. Developed with broad support from the rF2 modding community, this mod provides an unequalled sim racing opportunity for close, competitive and fun racing.

This year, NARS will be featuring the IMSA calendar of 11 races across North America. 5 of these races are ‘cross over’ events with the WEC calendar/Michelin Endurance Championship schedule being run by the VWSC, which will be running a similar race on the Saturday immediately after the NARS event.

THE CARS

VMSC will use the Storm Gang Simulation car mod WSC 2024 (SGS Discord).  This pack includes two categories: Hypercar (IMSA GTP and WEC Hypercar classes) and LMGT3 (IMSA GTD and WEC LMGT3).  All cars feature unique layouts and characteristics and have been updated using special SGS tires for 2024.  Cars available on the CMS discord server.

Hypercar (Storm Gang Simulation)

• Acura ARX-06
• Alpine A424 (new 2024)
• BMW M Hybrid V8
• Cadillac V-Series.R
• Ferrari 499P LMH
• Isotta Franchini Tipo6 (new 2024)
• Lamborghini SC63 (new 2024)
• Peugeot 9×8
• Porsche 963
• Toyota GR010

LMGT3

Storm Gang Simulation

• Acura NSX GT3
• Ford Mustang GT3 (new 2024)
• Ferrari 296 GT3 (new 2024)
• Lamborghini Huracan Evo2 GT3
• Lexus RCF GT3
• Porsche 992 GT3 (new 2024)

S397 DLC

• Aston Martin Vantage GT3
• BMW M4 GT3
• Chevrolet Corvette C8 GT3R
• McLaren 720S GT3
• Mercedes AMG GT3

Required DLC (either owned or installed):

GT3 Pack (or individual S397 cars noted above)
https://store.steampowered.com/itemstore/365960/detail/1001

Corvette C8.R GTE
https://store.steampowered.com/itemstore/365960/detail/55

SGS Cars may be accessed via the CMS Discord https://discord.gg/4ckmjPX

Calendar

Note: For the 18 Jan 1.2h of Daytona, 21 Mar 1.2h of Sebring, 26 Sep 1.2h of Indianapolis and 17 Oct 1.2h of Road Atlanta races, they will all be run at 10x time compression.

Event Schedule

7pm/1900 Eastern – Server Reboot / Practice
8:55pm/2055 Eastern – Driver Brief/Announcements
9:00pm/2100 Eastern – Qualification (10 Min LMGT3/10 Min Hypercar)
9:20pm/2120 Eastern – Warm-up
9:30pm/2130 Eastern – Race

Start

Rolling start, single file by class.

Orange Zone (OZ)

There will be an OZ designated for each race in the driver notes that will be posted to the NARS #vmsc24-info channel and noted again in the pre-race brief. There will be an automatic review of the OZ post-race.

Car Classes

There will be two car classes for this series – PRO and AM in both Hypercars and LMGT3s, to account for the differing levels of capability and time commitment to be found in our community.

Drivers who have raced in CMS before will have been noted in the stratification for 2024 with the option of moving up a driver class, for the entire year, if they wish. They will then race in a car class as allowed by their driver class. PRO/AM drivers will drive AM in HC or PRO in LMGT3. Drivers new to NARS will be placed in the PRO car class and then adjusted by the race admins by the end of race 3 in the season, if necessary.

Admins retain the right to reassign a driver up or down a car class if they are not correctly placed based on special circumstances or drivers’ performance.

Championships

The rf2la app (password: cmsrocks) will record all sessions and standings.

There will be four individual driver championships based on car category, PRO and AM for each car class, plus a team championship in Hypercar and LMGT3 as well as trophies.

Drivers will automatically be entered in the championship appropriate to their choice of class when they pick their car. Changes of car and/or class may be made once and points recalculated. Further changes will incur a complete forfeiture of points.

Teams will be composed of one PRO and one AM driver driving the same car (Hypercar or LMGT3) and must be declared to the race admin in order for points to be accumulated from that time forward.

Teams are encouraged to make public posts about entering the championship as well!

Points will be accumulated by teams as earned by the drivers in their respective classes from the point of declaration. Teams that no longer meet the same make/one PRO+one AM requirement for their championship after any changes will be eliminated from that championship and may be entered afresh for a team championship for which they then meet the requirements, scoring points from that point on only.

Points will be awarded each race for championship standings with two ‘drop’ races for each driver over the course of the year.

Points

60 Min Races: 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 point thereafter

1.2 Hr Races: 30-24-21-18-16-13-10-8-5-3-2-1 point thereafter

Hard Charger Trophy: 4 points per class to be shared between the drivers in each class gaining the most grid-to-finish positions in the race. 1 driver=4 points, 2 drivers+2 points each, 3 or more drivers=1 point each.

In the Groove Cup: Points are gained by drivers driving the most consistently in the race compared to their own fastest race lap as follows: 5-4-3-2-1.

Details on how to follow championship results are provided in the NARS Discord channels.

Custom Liveries and Numbers

CMS standard (default) liveries are provided and drivers are encouraged to paint their own custom liveries. Templates are provided in the CMS Discord server and will contain a number of required elements (window banners and numberplates) that must be respected.  Liveries not containing required elements or containing inappropriate materials will be rejected and drivers may be subject to penalties and/or disciplinary actions.  Contact the series admin with questions or concerns.

Livery submissions will be required no later than 1 week prior to Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans. Submissions will not be accepted at any other times or events.  “Loose” (alternate, alt, custom) skins may be used on existing driver liveries or default liveries of the same car and class.

There will be announced updates throughout the season where liveries may be accepted for inclusion in the mod. If you miss those dates and still want to run your livery, custom skin uploading is welcome and encouraged, but please log onto the server a couple of days before to mitigate server load from skin transfers on race day.

The use of the NARS numbering system is required for custom liveries and drivers not yet holding a NARS racing number may choose from those available, as listed at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13wo6t9tP2E1LCAUaJxE0osyKsnnnuyfh3N5T9Iv2WbQ/edit?usp=sharing . Instructions on how to choose either a permanent or series-specific number are provided on the individual pages.

Settings

Build: Latest stable build of rFactor 2
Damage: 75%
Mechanical Failures: Normal
Crash Recovery: OFF
Driving View: Open
Aids: Auto Clutch, Blip, Lift are the only rF2 global aids available (onboard aids/controls available per vehicle, eg TC and ABS in GT3s)
Fuel: 2x
Weather: Live
Race Start: Manual roll-off from grid into single-file formation lap.  Drivers must maintain safe and reasonable speeds and clearances before crossing the S/F line and beginning their race!

There is no pre-registration for the competition however all drivers are expected to have completed enough practice laps on the server to race competently and safely.

The server name will be “CMS VMSC [track name]”. For crossover events with the VWSC, the server name will be “CMS VWSC [track name]”
The server race password will be provided at server reset on race day.

General

The rf2la app will be used to record the hot laps and instructions for following the series standings will be provided at #vmsc24-info.

All races will be live-streamed on YouTube at our channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7Kdp07PvIeW47f0_sM0emw

Race Communications

We will use the CMS Discord rFactor 2 voice channel for race communications.

CMS Discord is available at https://discord.com/invite/4ckmjPX

The voice channel is only required to monitor race control during the event. You do not need a microphone if you do not want to speak.

If you have a microphone, please set it to “push to talk”. If that just doesn’t work for you, PLEASE set the voice-activated audio level up considerably so your coughing, wheezing or sim controls grinding isn’t “shared” with everyone else. Don’t be “that guy/girl”.

Chatter during free practice is permitted and encouraged! For qualification and races, please be brief in your communication on Discord and talk only if absolutely necessary. One sentence then quiet is requested. No text chat AT ALL during qualification or race.

Abusive and/or profane in-game chat, Discord, or forum post language may lead to that driver receiving a sanction up to and including a ban from CMS.

Should a driver join the event server without being in the Discord channel, they will be sent 3 text prompts in rFactor 2 text chat to join the CMS Discord server. After the 3rd prompt, they will be removed from the race server by race control until they rejoin with Discord active and monitoring the race channel.

Competition Rules and Stewarding

This series will conform to the CMS General Competition Rules that may be found on the CMS Discord Server. All drivers are expected to know the GCR and shall be required to abide by them. Additional track-specific instructions will be provided via a drivers race brief that will be posted on #vmsc24-info and summarized prior to the start of the qualifying session on race night.

Pit Entry/Exit Lines: On circuits that a white line is drawn at the pit road entry or/and exit, crossing this white line to entry or/end exit the pit is prohibited unless specifically permitted in a pre-race brief. Otherwise, it is permissible for tires to step on the white line, but crossing the line with one tire completely will result in a post-race Incident Review Request and penalty.

There are no live stewards. A post-race Incident Review Request may be submitted for adjudication with any resultant penalties to be served in the next race competed by the driver(s) at fault. The IRR form may be found at https://cmsracing.com/incident-report/.

rFactor 2 system assigned penalties during races must be served. The Race Director will only have the capability to clear penalties and driver DQ during practice on the race server and then AFTER qualification but before the race.

Connection Notes

Drivers are strongly advised to reboot their computer just before joining the server on race night.

Don’t use a WiFi connection. Only Ethernet cable connections are permitted for NARS events.