V1.01 Release Notes:
The BugBear materials now work correctly (where it matters) - Gravel, tarmac, grass (some of the rock still think's it is gravel).
Some new camera positions.
No pace notes, but Percy78 has some brilliant ones - keep your eyes peeled.
I have filled in the "pond" at the skid pan - drop in and have a whirl.
All Finland textures work OK, the special tarmac textures will change ALL the tarmac on ALL Finland Stages, so save your existing settings (you don't really need to use this texture at all, just looks pretty).
The rtp's:
Stage3 V1.01.rtp - changes the model
TesttrackInfoPIcsV1.01.rtp - gives you the info photo's in the startup
TesttrackDataV1.01.rtp - Gives you correct data & stage times (you need this to patch the old gravel version back to correct surfaces)
Stage3 Special Tarmac Textures.rtp gives you some special tarmac textures, developed just for the TestTrack
The track has some bugs:
The re-set places you back at 0,0 so you will end up on the outer gravel circle (facing outwards) if you crash. I had to do this to avoid "wrong way" warnings.
Don't go too close to the trees, because of the mapping on the foliage (some of it is transparent as you may expect) parts of the collision model are invisible and you will wonder what you hit (I have removed some of the worst culprits)..
There are two places where you can see through the track (hard to fix at the moment).
The stopping zone is not big enough for faster cars, watch out!
Re-sets always take you back to the start, sorry about that, cannot fix it, so don't crash!
Special Features:
For testing cars, there are some features (mainly on the tarmac section) that will help to judge top speed, accleration and cornering "G".
The skidpan section at the start has an initial radius (middle circle) of 57.624M, the inner circle is 45.624M, the outer circle is 69.624M. You can use the physics calculator and calculate the g Force here. You can time your laps using the two rocks located by the start position.
A few words about the splits, each has it's optimal split times set to 0,0 secs. This way you can see how long each section actually takes (i.e. standing qtr mile or time spent to 130R corner, flying kilometer etc.). It also means that you will never "win" the stage.
To do a standing qtr mile, as you see the checkpoint markers for the 1st split, stop just before them and you are at the start point of the standing qtr mile (gravel and tarmac - gravel start is at the top of a short ramp).
The next section is 130R (long left hand bend - radius 130M), you can calculate your average speed around here using the splits and get to the corner "g". NOTE: The gravel runs inside this corner and passes through the same splits, radius is 115M.
After this you are either on the tarmac or the gravel section. The gravel is mainly there for fun, but the jump is deliberately set so that if you take-off and 120kph you will land by the 1st set of rocks and if you launch at 160kph you should reach the second set of rocks (visible on the replay).
On the tarmac, after 130R you have a 2km straight, the 1st split on the straight is 500M in, the second after another 1000M (you can hit top speed here), the last split here is at the end of the straight and the start of the handling section. This is made up of a series of steady constant radius bends, there is a split at the end, so you can time yourself and check for handling improvements here. NOTE: The section is designed to reduce the benefit of driver skill on the times so as to focus on the car's behaviour (i.e. not fun).
After this, you are heading to the end.
A few comments about the gravel, it is not too tricky, but there are some nasty off-cambers and turns over crests. Also, some fast sections to allow testers to stretch a car's legs.
The test track sections is narrow with barriers, this is to limit your chances of taking a racing line or cutting corners which would give false data.
Split locations for tarmac:
Standing start - split_00 - split_01 = 201.168M (eighth mile)
Standing start - split_01 - split_02 = 201.168M (eighth mile)
NOTE: Between 00 & 02 = 402.336M (qtr mile), the eighth mile gives you a better idea whether the car is making time on launch or on power.
Distance between split_02 & split_03 = 25.00M (this seems a funny split, but gives a short braking zone so that you don't need to back off your standing qtr attempt, also it will not flash up on screen as the last split is still there - it shows on the end of stage results though).
Distance between split_03 & split_04 = 408.407(turn radius 130M - 180 deg High downforce corner - if you cannot get enough speed here, don't do the standing start use the run-up from the skid pan)
Distance between split_04 & split_05 = 500.00M
Distance between split_05 & split_06 = 1000.00M
Distance between split_06 & split_07 = 500.00M
Distance between split_07 & split_08 = 1418.00M (handling course)
Distance between split_08 & split_09 = 250M (Finish)
NOTE: If you want to take readings from the end of stage screens - the list on the left of the screen is the one you want. The first time shown is from "go" to split_00, so your eighth mile time is the next time down the list and so on.
Data:
100mph = 44.704M/S
130R - Distance between splits = 408.407M
Example of g force calculation - the time to complete 180deg @ 100mph = 9.137secs (full revolution = 18.274secs or 3.284 rpm) - 1.6G
1G Corner Force = 3rpm, full revolution takes 20secs, half revoltion takes 10secs - 91.35804MPH
0.5G Corner Force = 2 rpm, full revoltion takes 30 secs, half revoltion takes 15 secs
