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September 2018

Track name: Myrtle Beach 2018 PST
Racing Sim: NASCAR Racing 2003 Season simulation.
Short Track: 0.538 Mile Tri-oval
Author(s):  J.R. Franklin and Project: Short Track


TABLE OF CONTENTS:

[1] HOW TO INSTALL THE TRACK
[2] GENERAL TRACK INFORMATION
[3] WHAT WAS CHANGED FROM ORIGINAL TRACK
[4] NOTES ABOUT THIS TRACK  
[5] TROUBLE REPORTING
[6] DISTRIBUTION INFORMATION
[7] AGREEMENT OF USE

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[1] HOW TO INSTALL THE TRACK
====================================

Unzip the zip file to:  C:\Papyrus\Nascar Racing 2003 Season\tracks\. If you have multiple installations of NR2003S on your PC, you will need to manually select the tracks directory where you wish to install this track.



[2] GENERAL TRACK INFORMATION
====================================

Type: Real track

AI: Yes.  Working pit stalls for 40 total cars (39 opponents) and 1 pace car stall

Mod support: Cup, GNS, CTS. (This track was not tested using any other physics other than those.)

Track Information: 0.538 mile asphalt tri-oval located in Myrtle Beach, SC.

Banking Information:  13 degrees in the corners, 5 degrees on the frontstretch and 3 degrees on the backstretch.  

History and Background:  The Myrtle Beach Speedway, originally named Rambi Raceway, was built in 1958 as a dirt track where it hosted NASCAR"s premier Cup Division from 1958 through 1965. In 1974, the track was paved. The NASCAR Busch Grandnational Series (now the Xfinity Series) raced at Myrtle Beach Speedway from 1988 to 2000.

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour has held it's season openning events at the track since 2017. The CARS Tour SLM and LM schedules include regular stops at Myrtle Beach Speedway. The speedway is also home to major events and attractions including the Myrtle Beach 400, IceBreaker 200, NASCAR Racing Experience, Monster Jam, NOPI Nationals and The Horry County Fair with recent additions of the Wheels of Destruction Thrill Show and the Myrtle Beach BikeFest.

In addition to the abovementioned major touring series events, the speedway features the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series races on Saturday nights from late February through November. The track also runs various other classes of racing including Late Model Charger, Super Trucks and Mini Stocks. 

Over the years, Myrtle Beach Speedway has been the training grounds for some of NASCAR’s biggest stars including Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon. All four generations of Pettys (Lee, Richard, Kyle, and Adam) and three generations of Earnhardts (Ralph, Dale Sr. and Dale Jr./Kelley/L.W. Miller III) have all taken a green flag around the asphalt tri-oval.  (Parts of the preceeding were excerpted from Wikipedia.)


This NR2003 version of "Myrtle Beach 2018 PST" is an attempt to closely resemble the track as it appeared for the 2018 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event.  It is an edited version of the original "Myrtle Beach Speedway Night 2008" track created by Tony Stevens and Chris "Omodified" O'Shell of the American Short Track Group (ASTG) of which I was also a member along with Carl Sundberg and Charli Brown. Myrtle Beach 2018 PST is not, however, an exact replica of the Myrtle Beach Speedway nor do the limits of NR2003 allow it to be.  


[3] WHAT WAS CHANGED FROM ORIGINAL TRACK:
==============================================

Practically everything in this track was changed from the original Myrtle Beach Speedway 2008 version with the exception of the base track layout.  In total, there over 160 change order items.  This is a partial list of the many updates and new features you will see in this 2018 version:

-  All new billboards.
-  All new grandstands.
-  All new main tower objects.
-  Many animated flags based off of what was displayed at the 2018 NWMT race.
-  All new buildings and textures.
-  All new buildings (church, etc.) behind turns 3 and 4 to recreate the real life appearance. 
-  New track surface paint lines modeled after their real-life configuration.
-  Animated 737 Jet flyovers to and from nearby Myrtle Beach International Airport.
-  Recreations of actual real-life NWMT team haulers.
-  Recreations of actual real-life infield support box trucks (Hank Thomas Performance, Safety Kleen and Hoosier Tires) that you see at MBS.
-  All new cameras.
-  All new A.I. Lps, tuning and balancing.
-  Enhanced night environment shading and shadows.
-  Custom twi-light and night skies made by PST.
-  Numerous other features unique to Project: Short Track builds.


[4] CREDITS:
====================================

1.  J.R. Franklin:  Project manager, graphic enhancement, detailing and immersion, 3d object creation, editing and texturing, short tract style full-lap start grid, Lps, AI tuning and balancing, surface grip levels for multiple racing grooves, quality assurance and testing.

2.  Ben Althen:  Graphics support and chief immersion consultant, painting of real-life recreations of Hoosier, WMT and WSMT Team Haulers, miscellaneous signs, billboards, box trucks and various other support vehicles seen in this and many PST tracks.   Provided many reference photos of the facility from the 2018 WMT race.  Quality assurance and testing.

3.  Wayne "Bowtie" Anderson:  Creation of 3d objects too numerous to mention individually.

4.  Ian Smythe:  Creation of miscellaneous 3d objects, assistence and consultation.

5.  Members of the former ASTG development team:  Tony Stevens, Carl Sundberg, Charli Brown and Chris O'Shell.

6.  Barry Cold:  A special shout out to Barry who answered my online plea for someone who lived in the Myrtle Beach area to go over to the speedway during the day and take some reference photos of a particular billboard at the speedway.  Not only did Barry get some shots of the billboard, but he forwarded me over 100 photos of just about every inch of the Myrtle Beach Speedway facility.  He did this on a very hot day, by the way, which made it even that much more impressive and generous.  I can tell you that these reference photos are invaluable to a track editor's ability to produce a highly detailed track with it's unique objects and characteristics. Thanks very much Barry for your efforts which proves once again what a great and giving sim community we have for NR2003.  

7.  Beta Testing Team:  Barry Cold, Phillip Purpura, Mark Downing, Jim Windrow of STR SimRacing, Tim Johnston and Mike Ehresman of GroundPounderDesigns.com.


Additional credits:

8.  John Norton (WKC Tracks):  Miscellaneous objects and general consultation.

9.  Mystical (racing.armorydigital.net):  custom 3d objects (golf cart, generator and pit stall objects).

10. Mciarlo:  Optional twilight race sky files.

11. Ground Pounder Designs
    Sim Racing Design
    NR2k3Tracks.com (aka the old Sim Racing Connection.com)

12. Reference sources:      
    a.  Myrtle Beach Speedway Facebook page.
    b.  Google images and videos
    c.  Myrtle Beach Speedway - Wikipedia
    d.  Racing-Reference.info
    
13. To anyone else whom we may have unintentionally neglected to mention but contributed in the creation of objects that have been borrowed from other NR2003 tracks for this project, we sincerely appreciate your contributions to NR2003.
 
We owe a debt of gratitude to each of you for your contributions, time, support and help.




[5] KNOWN ISSUES AND NOTES ABOUT THIS TRACK
============================================= 

For the best results with this track, we highly recommend you use the following:

     a.  A default papy_ai.ini
     b.  The default fast setups for each physics (Cup, GNS and CTS) 
     c.  The opponent strength set at 97%. 
     d.  Ratings for the car sets used in testing and in developing the A.I. for this track are from the NRatings program using the MasGrafx Full Season V3.1 formulas. 

1.  Highly Detailed Graphics Rich Track.  In an effort to duplicate the details of the real MBS facility and capture as much immersion as possible for the end user, we have poured a ton of high-resolution objects and detaling into this project.  Please be advised that this track may tax the ability of some computers. We apologize in advance if this is the case for you.

2.  Short Track Touring Series-Style Starting Grid.  For the full lap starting grid, we have employed a traditional short track touring series lineup grid like you will see at many short tracks across the county.  This is with the cars lined up single file on the frontstretch at a 45 degree angle facing the grandstands.  To avoid confusion, it is important that you take note of your starting position before you roll off for the pace lap.  (Even numbered starting positions on the outside row, odd numbered on the inside).  This short track style grid is only used when the full pace lap is selected in the Options Menu when you start a race session.

3.  Multiple Racing Grooves.  This track features 2 distinct racing groves just like the real Myrtle Beach Speedway, so race 'em low or race 'em high.  The AI will go 2 and 3 wide to provide an exceptional and exhilarating racing experience.  However, passing on this track is pretty difficult.  An AI car beside you (either on your outside or inside) will put up a great fight for several laps and will not relinquish the spot easily...if at all.

4.  Realiging After A Caution.  As is the case with most short tracks made for NR2003, it may take a little longer for the NR2003 "Race Director in the tower" to get the AI realigned after a caution flies.  Be patient.  They will get re-aligned properly. Sometimes during a caution, after some pitting has occured, the game will wave off the re-start if the field has not realigned and closed up properly and other times it'll just throw the green flag when back markers have not caught up, so be ready to go at all times.  


This track was not tested with Cup or PTA physics.  All testing and track.ini settings are for the GNS and CTS physics only, which the editor of the track feels are best suited to racing at Myrtle Beach Speedway.

We went to great efforts to make the A.I. and racing as realistic as possible. At the same time, we also took some liberties with the A.I. tools available in the track.ini to enhance the "fun" factor. We're confident that you'll enjoy the offline racing experience against the AI the way we have set them up for you. 

To enjoy the best results, we recommend that you use the fast setups provided with the track and car sets containing ratings as described above. Your results and AI behavior, however, may vary depending on the type of mod used, the ratings of your specific car set, different setups used, driving style, skill level and countless other variables that make it practically impossible to predict the results that you will achieve while racing on this track.

Finally, many thanks to all of the guys who worked on this original project back in 2008 with the old American Short Track Group (ASTG). A graphic and A.I. update of this track for NR2003 after 10 years was in order to help me fulfill my goal of producing the tracks that are visited by the NWMT and the many ohter short track touring series in this country.  I sure hope you enjoy these updates as well.


PROJECT:  Short Track Team:
J.R. Franklin
Ben Althen
Wayne Anderson
Carl Sundberg
Ian Smythe




[6] TROUBLE REPORTING 
====================================

This track is not supported by or affiliated with Vivendi Universal Games, Sierra Online, or Papyrus Racing Games so please do not call or email.

You may use the forums at www.SimRacingDesign.com, www.NR2k3Tracks.com or www.GroundPounderDesigns.com for questions regarding the track.



[6] DISTRIBUTION INFORMATION 
====================================

Autorized Distributing Websites:

www.nr2k3Tracks.com
www.smiffsden.com
www.groundpounderdesigns.com
www.SimRacingDesign.com

THIS TRACK SHALL NOT BE POSTED AT ANY WEBSITES, OTHER THAN THE ONE(S) PROVIDED, WITHOUT PRIOR WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM J.R. Franklin.


[7] AGREEMENT OF USE
=====================================

Use of this track by installation into a racing simulator constitutes agreement with this and the following statements:

1) This track shall not be sold or distributed for commercial purposes, or money exchanged for this track or any part thereof.

2) This track shall not be redistributed without written consent of the author(s) as listed above. 

3) This track cannot be modified without written consent of the author(s) as listed above.

4) This track, or any parts thereof, shall not be converted to rFactor or any other simulation without the written consent of the author(s) as listed above.

5) This track must always maintain an unmodified copy of this CREDITS_README in whatever form it is distributed.

6) This track is covered by implied intellectual property laws, in that it is the property of the author(s).

7) This track is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.



