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April 2020

Track name: Stafford 2019 PST
Racing Sim: NASCAR Racing 2003 Season simulation.
Short Track: 0.50 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

AI: Yes.  Working pit stalls for 35 total cars (34 opponents).

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

Track Information: 0.50 mile asphalt tri-oval located in Stafford Springs, CT.

Banking Information:  7 in turns 1 & 2, 8.5 in turns 3 & 4, 0 on the straightaways.  

History and Background:  Stafford Motor Speedway originally began in 1870 as an Agricultural Park and horse racing facility and operated as such to the end of World War II when it switched to automobile racing. In 1959 it became a NASCAR santioned track and operated as a dirt track until 1967 when it was paved.  The Arute family, headed by Chuck and Jack Arute, Sr., purchased the track in 1970.  Shortly after, they lobbied NASCAR to make some rule changes to increase the sport's popularity of the Modified Division.  They felt that fans could no longer identify with the old pre-war coupes and they managed to convince NASCAR to approve more modern bodies like the Pintos, Vegas and Gremlins that drove on the highways.   It was a huge boost to the popularity of the division and short tracking racing in the Northeast and Atlantic seaboard and became known as "The Pinto Revolution".  Today, the facility is still operated by the Arute family under the leadership of Mark Arute.  

Stafford Motor Speedway, known as the Home of the SK Modifieds, is a semi-banked one-half mile asphalt oval and is part of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series.  It's weekly program runs on Friday nights from May through September and features several divisions including the SK Modifieds, Late Models, SK Lights, Limited Late Models and Street Stocks.  In addition to their weekly divisions, Stafford also features 3 visits by the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour... The NAPA Auto Parts Spring Sizzler 200, the Stafford 150 and and the NAPA Auto Parts Fall Final 150.

(Portions of the above were excerpted from the Stafford Motor Speedway official website.  www.StaffordMotorSpeedway.com.)
 
These NR2003 day and night versions of "Stafford 2019 PST" are an attempt to closely resemble the track as it appeared for the 2019 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour events. Stafford 2019 PST is not, however, an exact replica of the Stafford Motor Speedway nor do the limits of NR2003 allow it to be.  



[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, 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 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 3d objects too numerous to mention individually.

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

5.  Folco Banfi:  Creator of the original Stafford_1_0_fb for NR2003 which was used as the base for this updated 2019 version of Stafford.

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


Additional credits:

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

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

9.  Danny Coral:  Baseline Fast setups for BGN, CTS and CUP physics.

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

11. Reference sources:      
    a.  Stafford Speedway Facebook page.
    b.  Google Earth, maps, miscellaneous images and videos.
    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
    
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 Staffford Speedway 2008 version with the exception of the base track layout.  In total, there are over 170 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 with accurate 2019 sponsor graphics.
    New grandstands and 3d crowd objects throughout.
    New frontstretch tower objects. 
    New turn 4 suite tower objects.
    New accurate catch fencing texture.
    New black cable posts along the frontstretch.
    New MUSCO Light towers.
    New accurate racing surface textures.
    New Scoreboard and updated graphics.
    New higher definition 3D tree objects.
    Improved and more accurate areas around outside of track.
    Added realistic shade and shadow highlights. 
    Dynamically lit objects.
    New pit area behind turn 1 accurately populated with WMT haulers.
    Enhanced and improved a.i. featuring 2 racing grooves.
    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.  Highly Detailed Graphics Rich Track.  In an effort to duplicate the details of the real Stafford Motor 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/).

3.  Dual Pit Road.  The way the pits are laid out at the real Stafford Motor Speedway with a single pit road on the left hand side made it impossible to have much more than 18 working pit stalls.  In order to get more cars onto pit road and have a starting field of 35 cars, a second parallel pit road was necessary opposite the left side pit road.

4.  Cautions.  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 and have occasional contact resulting in a caution.  This happens often after a start or restart, but will also happen after a longer period of racing action... so expect it.  If you've been to a short track in real life it is not uncommon to see 5 to 7 cautions in a 150 lap event.

5.  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. This half mile track holds 35 cars in the starting field.  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.  

6.  Pit Stops.  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 AI and should not ever be used.

8.  Race Ending Under Caution.  If a race ends under caution, some of the AI 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.

9.  Odd AI Behaviors.  AI cars will sometimes exhibit other odd behaviors that are unfortunately inherent in short tracks made for NR2003. For instance, sometimes AI 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.
  
10. Multiple Racing Grooves.  This track features 2 distinct racing groves just like the real Stafford Motor 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.

11. AI cars will sometimes exhibit other odd behaviors that are unfortunately inherent in short tracks made for NR2003.  



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 Stafford Motor 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 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.


PROJECT:  Short Track Team:
J.R. Franklin
Ben Althen
Ian Smythe
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.



