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April 2020

Track name: South Boston 2019 PST
Racing Sim: NASCAR Racing 2003 Season simulation.
Short Track: 0.40 Mile oval
Author:  J.R. Franklin and Project: Short Track


TABLE OF CONTENTS:

[1] HOW TO INSTALL THE TRACK
[2] GENERAL TRACK INFORMATION
[3] CREDITS
[4] WHAT WAS CHANGED FROM ORIGINAL TRACK
[4] NOTES ABOUT THIS TRACK  
[5] KNOWN ISSUES AND NOTES ABOUT TRACK
[6] TROUBLE REPORTING
[7] DISTRIBUTION INFORMATION
[8] 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

These NR2003 day and night versions of "South Boston 2019 PST" are an attempt to closely resemble the track as it appeared for the 2019 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event. It is an edited version of the original "sboston_dr" track created by Denis Rioux from the original N3 version of South Boston coverted by Dave Noonan.  South Boston 2019 PST is not, however, an exact replica of the real-life South Boston Speedway nor do the limits of NR2003 allow it to be.
  
A.I.: Yes.  Working pit stalls for 36 total cars (35 opponents).

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

Track Information: 0.40 mile asphalt tri-oval located in South Boston, VA.

Banking Information:  12° in the turns and 10° on the straightaways.  

History and Background:  South Boston Speedway, "America's Hometown Track" remains one of the country's most significant short tracks.   Located in South Boston, VA, the track has a rich racing history and has enjoyed a long relationship under the NASCAR banner.  

Through the years, South Boston Speedway has hosted all of NASCAR's top divisions including the Cup Series (1960-1971), Xfinity (formerly Busch Series 1982-2000) and Trucks (2001-2003).  In addition, the ARCA Menard Series, ARCA Menard/K&N East, Whelen Modified Tour, Whelen Southern Modified Tour, CARS SLM and LM Tour have all held events there.

South Boston's regular weekly card of racing under the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series features the following divisions:  Late Models, Limited Sportsmen, Pure Stocks and Hornets .  The fast, tight 0.40 mile asphalt oval offers an affordable family friendly atmosphere at a nice clean racing facility.
 

[3] CREDITS:
====================================

1.  J.R. Franklin:  Project manager, graphic enhancement, detailing and immersion, painting of billboards, 3d object creation, editing and texturing, camera files, Lps, A.I. 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 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.  Quality assurance and testing.

3.  Ian Smythe:  Creation of custom 3d objects too numerous to mention individually.

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

5.  Mike Ehresman:  Graphics support.

6.  Denis Rioux:  Creator of the original "sboston_dr" track from the original N3 version of South Boston coverted by Dave Noonan for NR2003 which was used as the base for this updated 2019 version of South Boston.

7.  Beta Testing Team:  Mark Downing, Jim Windrow of STR SimRacing, Ben Althen and Mike Ehresman of GroundPounderDesigns.com.


Additional credits:

8.  John Norton (WKC Tracks):  Miscellaneous 3d objects.

9.  Mystical (racing.armorydigital.net):  Miscellaneous 3d objects.

10.  Michael Ciarlo of BBMC Tracks for some of the beautiful night skies.

11. Reference sources:      
    a.  South Boston Speedway Facebook page.
    b.  SouthBostonSpeedway.com
    c.	Miscellaneous YouTube videos.
    d.  Myracenews.smugmug.com and Myracenews Facebook page and photos.
    e.  Whelen Modified Tour Facebook page and photos
    f.  YankeeRacer.Smugmug.com
    g.  RaceDayCT.com (Fran Lawlor photos)
    h.  Mod Squad Racing Media Photography
    i.  Ben Althen photographs
    j.  Racing-Reference.info
    k.  Google: Earth, maps, images and videos.
    
12. 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.



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

Practically everything in this track was changed from the original South Boston "sboston_dr" version with the exception of the base track layout.  In total, there are over 150 change order items.  This is a partial list of the many updates and new features you will see in these new 2019 day and night versions:


  •  All new billboards and scoreboard with accurate 2019 sponsor graphics.
  •  New grandstands and 3d crowd objects throughout.
  •  All new frontstretch tower objects. 
  •  All new turn 1 "Winston Suite" building object.
  •  All new building objects throughout and retextured to resemble their real-life counterparts.
  •  New accurate catch fencing texture.
  •  New animated waving flags above main grandstand.
  •  New Light towers.
  •  New accurate paint lines to resemble how they are in the current track.
  •  New higher definition 3D tree objects.
  •  Improved and more accurate areas around outside of track.
  •  Added realistic shade and shadow highlights. 
  •  Dynamically lit objects.
  •  Infield pit area populated with real WMT haulers schemes.
  •  Enhanced and improved a.i. behavior featuring 2 racing grooves.
  •  Improved infield pit stalls.
  •  New higher definition 3D tree objects.
  •  Improved night environment with PST session progressive night skies.
  •  Plus many more new features too numerous to mention.



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

1.  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. 

2.  THE "BIG ONE"!!!  Because this track is a very fast and tight 0.40 mile track with concrete walls on both sides of the racing surface, there is very little room for A.I. cars to go to avoid a wreck in front of them.  To make matters worse, NR2003 is notoriously poor when it comes to A.I. wreck avoidance and especially on short tracks.  There is simply not enough time or track length for the A.I. to adequately slow down fast enough either.  Unfortunately, as a result of these factors, there is often some extensive wrecks that may occur and YOU, "The Player," may be the subject of it. If you have spun on the track, your best bet is to try to "right" yourself in the correct direction and get as close to a wall as quickly as possible to get of of the way of the fastly approaching field.  (You probably will not be successful and you will suffer significant damage.)
 
This has always been a major A.I. flaw of NR2003 and cannot be fixed (to the best of our knowledge). We have tried some creative thinking "outside of the box" to correct this issue and have been moderatly successful in reducing the problem, but it is unfortunately a by-product of NR2003 which was never designed for tracks less than 0.50 miles in length, not to mention one as tight as South Boston Speedway. NR2003 causes the field to race back to the S/F line when a caution flag comes out, so they are at "full song" at the line and sometimes just cannot avoid piling up into YOU or the wrecked cars in the middle of the track that brought out the caution in the first 

However, with all that being said, our testing has found that despite this flaw, it has not significantly reduced or ruined the enjoyment and experience of a good race against a full filed of a.i. cars.  Online leagues races should not be affected by this issue at all unless you run with A.I. cars mixed in to the field.

3.  Cautions.  If you've been to a short track in real life it is not uncommon to see 5 to 7 or more cautions in a 150 lap event.  In an effort to try to simulate the short track racing experience, we have tried to make it so the A.I. cars race tight.  However, unlike many of our other PST tracks, we have tried to reduce the amount of contact between the A.I. cars that would result in large wrecks and cautions (see THE BIG ONE!!! explanation above).  However, wrecks and cautions will still occur and will most generally happen soon after a start or restart.  Once the field spreads out a bit you will enjoy longer periods of green flag racing, but the occasional caution may still happen... so expect it.  When the caution comes out, try to move out of the way to avoid A.I. cars from crashing into the back of you.  

Also, when a caution flag comes out, depending on where and when it occurs, the pit lane may immediately be open for lead lap cars.  So be aware of this and pay close attention to the pit road flagger as to whether or not pit road is open.

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 A.I. realigned after a caution flies. This 0.40 mile track holds 36 cars in the starting field which is A LOT for a track this small.  The pace car and leaders may pass some of the tail end cars when the caution first comes out.  BE PATIENT and get in line behind the car that the spotter tells you to as soon as possible.  The field will get sorted out and 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.  

5.  Caution Pacing and A.I. Pitting.  When A.I. cars are pitting, the A.I. cars pacing on the track will slow suddenly and sometimes stop in the middle of the track and wait for a car rolling slowly into the pits off the apron.  Many times they will jam up entering pit road out of turn 1.  They eventually sort themselves out and make it onto pit road so be patient.  These are behaviors we have observed in other short tracks of this size and configuration built under Butter's Rule.  Unfortunately, in no cases have we been able to solve these issues. So please be aware of this and give yourself plenty of room behind the car in front of you while pacing under caution. Be prepared to stop suddenly or drive to the outside of the car in front of you in case he suddenly brake-checks.  We have worked hard to minimize this and feel that by giving you this "heads up" about it you will find that it doesn't detract from the enjoyment of racing at South Boston 2019 PST.  

6.  Pit Stops.  The pit road speed limit is set at 45 mph which is 10 mph faster than the pace speed limit of 35 mph.  So you will be able to pass the pace car while on pit road.  This was done intentionally to allow you a little more time to receive service on pit road without losing a lap. Routine 4-tire and gas pit stops are possible without losing a lap depending on how close you are behind the pace car when you make your stop. If you are further back in line, you probably will not have enough time to complete damage repairs or a full 4-tire stop with gas and still remain on the lead lap, so plan your pit work accordingly. 
  
7.  Pit Stop Frequency.  It is highly recommended that this track ONLY be run with "Pit Stop Frequency" set at 1X.  Higher Pit Stop Frequency" settings of 2X, 3X or 4X will introduce problems, cause confusion with the A.I. and should not ever be used.  We have intentionally tried to set this track up so that only one stop for tires will occur during a routine 150 or 200 lap race.

9.  Jumping The Initial Start. There seems to be an odd bug that we've never seen before and haven't seemed to be able to completely solve.  On the openning pace lap, the outside pole car will occasionally begin to speed up too early and beat the pole car past the S/F line at the drop of the green flag.  This does not always happen.  However, when it does happen, the offending A.I. car will drop down onto pit lane immediately (or on the next lap by) and be assessed the appropriate "Stop and Go" penalty.

10.  Race Ending Under Caution.  If a race ends under caution, some of the A.I. cars will stop on the track and not make their way back to the pits. We have tried a number of things to remedy this situation, but have not hit on anything that will solve this.

11. Odd A.I. Behaviors.  A.I. cars will sometimes exhibit other odd behaviors that are unfortunately inherent in short tracks made for NR2003. For instance, sometimes A.I. cars will exit the pits during a caution and merge into an improper position in the restart alignment without penalty.  These types of things are inherent with short tracks made for NR2003 and are likely incorrectable, but in most cases do not deter from the enjoyment of running these tracks.
  
12. Multiple Racing Grooves.  This track features 2 distinct racing groves just like the real South Boston Speedway, so race 'em low or race 'em high.  The A.I. will go 2 and 3 wide to provide an exceptional and exhilarating racing experience.  However, passing on this track is pretty difficult.  An A.I. 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.

13. Highly Detailed Graphics Rich Track.  In an effort to duplicate the details of the real South Boston Speedway 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. If you are experiencing difficulty running this track and your frame rates are dropping below 30 FPS, we might recommend installing the 4GB Patch offered at NTCore.com (https://ntcore.com/?page_id=371).  Details about installing this patch can be found at the StunodRacing.net forum:  (http://stunodracing.net/index.php?threads/4-gb-patch.7183/).


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 we feel are best suited to racing at South Boston Speedway and short track racing in general in NR2003.

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 A.I. 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 A.I. 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.


PROJECT:  Short Track Team:
J.R. Franklin
Ben Althen
Ian Smythe
Mike Ehresman
Wayne Anderson





[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 the Ground Pounder Designs Facebook page for questions regarding the track.



[7] DISTRIBUTION INFORMATION 
====================================

Autorized Distributing Websites:

Ground Pounder Designs Facebook page
www.nr2k3Tracks.com
www.smiffsden.com
www.SimRacingDesign.com
www.stunodracing.net

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


[8] 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.



